


I don’t wanna make the same mistakes again (this ain’t gon hurt me)

by yumenohateni



Category: Gokusen (Anime & Manga), Gokusen (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Friends to Enemies, Friends to Lovers, High School, M/M, Poor Take always having to deal with his two idiot friends, Ryu likes to suffer and Hayato's a dumbass (what's new right?), What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:29:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25233181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yumenohateni/pseuds/yumenohateni
Summary: Take never speaks. 3D never gets to know the whole truth. They never forgive Ryu. Ryu thinks he can live with that, he moves on and becomes a permanent teacher at Akadou. Then Hayato is hired as the new English teacher.
Relationships: Odagiri Ryu/Original Character(s), Odagiri Ryu/Yabuki Hayato
Comments: 25
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NoryO3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoryO3/gifts).



> I’m posting the first part of this ~~monster~~ baby I started in 2016 because I’m fucking tired of it and I need some encouragement to fucking finish it. Hope you’ll like it at least a little bit.
> 
> Also, warnings: Violence and lots of swearing. There'll probably be some explicit sex scenes at some point. Complete lack of knowledge in how legal proceedings and the whole Japanese judiciary actually work. Same for the education system, I couldn't bother looking it up. Also, I started writing this back in 2016 while I was watching Gokusen 2 for the nth time. I picked it up now, four years later, so there may be mistakes in continuity/coherence with the canon of the doramas/manga/movie because there are many details I don’t remember.
> 
> Edit: [Playlist on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5AVUF8YEtXG0GaPanfOt6j?si=Opda045iR1-DRAoD-ZDs8w) by my best pupi (still a WIP tho).

Ryu comes back to Kurogin after Yankumi saves him from the Frentzen thugs. Only Take never reveals the real reason about Ryu forfeiting to Ara High. Ryu doesn’t want him to and Take’s loyalty towards him runs too deep to go against his word.

3D never gets to know the whole truth. They never forgive Ryu.

Take is the only one who stays by his side until they graduate three months afterwards.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

After the incident with Yankumi and the drug dealer slash politician, Ryu is offered a permanent job in Akadou as the homeroom teacher of class 2B. It’s not that bad; Yankumi, as always, has got it worse.

Ryu wouldn’t say his life is perfect, because it isn’t, and Ryu is not the type of person to delude himself. However, he is content, which is much more than he was expecting to get half a decade ago. Somehow, knowing that he is useful helps. Knowing his existence can change other people’s lives—the lives of his students—makes him feel content.

Ryu’s life is not that great. It is not extraordinary. But it is enough.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

 _Sometimes_ , Ryu thinks as he stares, dumbfounded, at the new English teacher, _sometimes life’s actually a bitch._

“Good morning, nice to meet you,” the new teacher says and then smiles politely while bowing slightly his head. “My name is Yabuki Hayato and I’m the new English teacher, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Sometimes life’s a bitch—or fate is. Probably both.

The polite teacher-smile is still plastered on Hayato’s face and Ryu actually has to try to remind himself why he can’t just wipe it off his face. With a punch—or a kiss. Probably both.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

“Hayato,” the boy says. No last name, just ‘Hayato’.

Ryu doesn’t know how he should introduce himself, whether in the formal way his parents have taught him or the way the other boy did. In the end, he decides to ignore what he’s been taught to do and replies, “Ryu, my name is Ryu.”

“Whoa!” Hayato exclaims with wide eyes. “Your name’s so cool!”

“Really?” Ryu asks disbelievingly, because this is the first time anyone has said he has a cool name, let alone another kid his same age. Apparently, Ryu doesn’t have many friends because he’s too uptight, too ‘uncool’. _At least I have a cool name_ , little Ryu thinks, and gives Hayato a tentative little smile (because Hayato hasn’t stopped smiling since he introduced himself and Ryu is a fast learner. He will learn a lot of important things from Hayato, like the true value of friendship and the excruciating pain first loves usually bring about. For now, though, Ryu just smiles a little more, not because Hayato is doing it, but because he’s truly, genuinely happy).

After that episode he always introduces himself as ‘Ryu’.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Hayato is still smiling, as if he were some kind of broken machine.

Ryu knew that Sawatari and the vice-principal had been looking for a new teacher ever since Graham-sensei resigned to go back to his home country after the beginning of the term. However, Ryu hadn’t expected they’d find one so quickly.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too,” Ryu replies and bows back after he overcomes the initial shock. “My name is Odagiri Ryu. I look forward to working with you in the future,” he adds, because two can play that game.

Hayato’s smile freezes on his face. Ryu smirks.

“Yeah… right,” Hayato says, probably unconvinced. Then he remembers his manners. “I- uhm, I’m also looking forward to- to working with you all in the future.”

 _Fucker_ , Ryu thinks and goes back to his desk to start grading tests again.

More than half the class fails that test. Ryu feels guilty by the time he hands them out and tells them it was just a mock exam.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Ryu’s getting a little annoyed. Everyone is talking about the new English teacher as if Hayato were some kind of God of English and his methods were miraculous.

If Ryu weren’t Ryu and he butted into other people’s conversations, he would tell all of them how being a Math teacher _and_ speaking English—because he also studied abroad—is ten times cooler than being an English teacher who cannot even speak proper Japanese.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

What annoys Ryu the most, though, is hearing Takano-sensei and nurse Ayukawa talk about how handsome the new teacher is and then wondering about whether he’s single or not (while they plot situations to ‘catch’ him).

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Before they know it, it’s almost Valentine’s Day and the teachers are getting excited about it as much as (or more than) the students themselves.

The male teachers flock around nurse Ayukawa and Takano-sensei, whereas, in turn, those two flock around Hayato and Ryu. Yankumi, as always, is daydreaming about her current crush.

“Ah~ It’s so nice to receive chocolate on Valentine’s Day, isn’t it?” Okada-sensei asks acting all innocent as he leans on Takano-sensei’s desk.

“Yes, very nice,” Yajima-sensei replies just as innocently while getting closer to them. “Especially if it’s homemade!”

“Hmm, it is, isn’t it?” Hatoyama-sensei agrees. He, too, is slowly approaching Takano’s desk.

“Do you have anyone special this year, Takano-sensei?” Yajima asks her sweetly.

“Un. I do!” Takano answers with a little nod. The men around her all go “EHHH?”.

“Who is it? Who is it?” they all enquire.

“Can’t tell!” she says and looks down, her cheeks a little red.

“Ah~ I also have someone special this year!” Yankumi dreamily expresses.

Hayato and Ryu snort at the same time. They look up, startled, and stare at each other, and then they avert their gazes. Everyone else just ignores Yankumi’s comment.

“I’m making homemade chocolate this year!” Yankumi excitedly adds. Hayato full-on laughs now. Ryu is just smirking.

“Yeah, good luck with that, Yankumi,” Hayato interjects, but low enough so that nobody else but her (and Ryu) will hear.

“Try not to poison anybody this time,” Ryu adds just as low. Hayato cackles again and glances at him with a playful look, but this time he doesn’t avert his eyes when Ryu glances back.

“That’s not fair, you guys!” Yankumi cries out. “I didn’t _poison_ them!”

All the teachers in the room suddenly turn to look at them, obviously curious about the lively exchange they couldn’t hear.

“ _Them_?” Yajima asks, confused. Yankumi ignores his question and sulks in a corner while she talks to herself.

“Odagiri-sensei, Yabuki-sensei, how many chocolates did you receive last year?” Takano asks them with a cute voice.

Hayato seems to ponder over the question and then answers.

“I think I got ten, but in America women don’t usually give customary chocolate like they do here,” he justifies.

“And you, Odagiri-sensei? How many did you get?”

“I think I got fifteen or sixteen, I don’t really remember,” he answers distractedly as he circles the result of the exercise he was correcting with red ink and writes the correct answer.

“Now that I think back- yeah, I got twenty-one last year,” Hayato throws in without looking at Ryu, too occupied with his own papers.

“Oh, I didn’t count the ones I got here, at school, that would make it thirty-seven,” Ryu says in response and takes a brief glimpse at Hayato, who is slouching back on his seat, his arms behind his neck and his eyes on the ceiling.

Hayato suddenly sits straighter, lowers his arms and glares at him for a few seconds. Then he says, “well, then, I got forty-two,” without lowering his gaze.

“Fifty-three,” Ryu snaps back.

“Sixty-four.”

“Seventy-one.”

“Eighty!” Hayato yelps.

Ryu is about to retort when Yankumi, who until then had been talking to herself, cuts in.

“You guys are so popular! Let’s hope you’ll get many more this year!” she blurts out as she fists her empty hand in the air.

Hayato starts scratching the back of his neck while Ryu looks down. They both have small, sheepish smiles on their faces.

“So, do you two have anyone special this year?” Takano-sensei asks, and then blushes when she realizes what she has just asked.

Hayato doesn’t answer, he’s looking down and still scratching at his nape, seemingly a little embarrassed about the childish squabble they had a moment before in front of everyone else. Ryu’s a little taken aback by how easy it was to just bicker with the other about meaningless things the way they used to do before.

Seeing Hayato is not about to answer, Takano-sensei looks at Ryu expectantly.

Ryu’s first instinct is to reply with a ‘no’. Then he remembers he has Kengo. He has a fucking boyfriend, as a matter of fact, and he had forgotten all about him for a moment there.

“I- uh, yes, I have,” Ryu finally answers and Hayato looks up so fast Ryu actually gets startled from the sudden movement.

 _Why so surprised, jerk?_ , Ryu thinks. Then he remembers that back when they were still friends Ryu couldn’t care less about girls. Hayato has never seen him interested in anyone. Well- that’s not entirely true. Hayato has never realized Ryu was interested in someone. He probably thought Ryu was asexual or something.

Takano-sensei looks crestfallen. _Really?_ , Ryu thinks. If he didn’t care about general social rules he’d laugh at how hopeless she is. _Just like me._

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

The first time they score a goukon with Momo High students is neither on White Day nor in their last year of high school. It happens by chance on Valentine’s Day the year before that.

Kudo’s guys have organized a group date but at the last moment five of them unexpectedly back out. Hayato and his gang are only too pleased to take their places. Well, Ryu’s not that pleased, actually. Listening to Hayato’s lame pick-up lines and witnessing his persistent flirting for a whole afternoon is not something Ryu usually looks forward to, but _it’s such a coincidence exactly five of them backed out_ , and Ryu _can’t just leave Hayato alone_ because _he’s his wingman_ (whatever that means) and so Ryu ends up sandwiched between Hayato and a tall 3D guy he’s never seen before.

Ryu is trying to detach himself from the guy, actually, but Hayato’s in the middle of retelling their most recent fight to a Momo student and his hands are swinging in the air and punching imaginary faces in a pretty enthusiastic fashion.

The punk doesn’t seem to be too uncomfortable with Ryu’s body plastered to his right side, though, and he even tries to strike up a conversation.

“Odagiri, isn’t it?” he asks as he turns his body a little bit to the side to be able to look at Ryu in the face.

Ryu gives him a quick glance and grunts his assent as he nods. The guy has what Ryu presumes is a somewhat good-looking face, with his strong jaw and straight nose.

“I heard you and your gang beat up those Jounan Tech cowards pretty bad,” he says and he almost sounds _awed_. “By the way, name’s Kato, nice to meet you,” he adds and bows his head slightly, however, as he is lifting it, he flashes a crooked half smile at Ryu that makes a small dimple appear on his left cheek.

Ryu’s got to admit it’s a little charming. Him, his smile, his attitude; Ryu doesn’t know what exactly. There’s just something about him.

He tears his eyes away from Kato’s mouth and clears his throat.

“My gang?” he asks when he remembers the other’s previous words.

“What? Isn’t it yours?” the other asks back a little confused.

“Uhm, no- I mean- I’m part of it, yeah, but-” Ryu tries to explain and feels stupid when he can't event _talk_ without stuttering like a shy middle-school girl.

“You know,” Kato interrupts him, “I heard great things about you, Odagiri.”

At that, Ryu raises his eyebrows, his eyes a little widened. He doesn’t know what to reply to that. Just thinking that people are saying things about him, _good_ things, makes Ryu’s stomach do a tiny somersault.

“I wouldn’t mind having you in my gang, you know?” Kato points out, off-handedly, as he returns his gaze to the table and takes a sip of his drink.

Ryu feels a flush spreading all over his face. Kato lowers his glass and gives him a sideways look and when he notices Ryu’s state he lets out a sudden snort of laughter. He really _is_ charming.

“What?” he asks defensively, his voice a little higher than before. There’s a playful smile on his face when he says, “you’d be a valuable asset; I’d love to have you around.”

By now, Ryu feels the flush extending down to his neck like wildfire.

Out of a sudden, there’s an arm sneaking around the right side of his neck and someone’s hair tickling his left ear.

“Too bad he’s in my gang, right, Ryu?” he feels more than hears Hayato ask, and he doesn’t have to tilt his face to the side to guess what expression Hayato is wearing right then.

“Yeah, too bad,” Ryu mutters and averts his gaze from Kato's face as Hayato’s fingers start playing with a lock of hair behind his right ear.

“I see,” Kato mumbles and Ryu stares at him once again. There’s a smile on his face, different from the ones before—this one doesn’t reach his eyes. Kato stares at Hayato for a few seconds, then at Ryu and finally turns to his other side, facing away from them and engaging in conversation with the classmate on his left.

Ryu doesn’t have time to feel anything before Hayato is tugging at him to join him in his retelling.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

A few hours later Hayato and Ryu are lying on the riverbank, the sun is setting and everything around them is tinted in golden hues.

Hayato is sprawled across the grass with his knees drawn up, his arms bent and his folded hands under his head. Ryu, on the other hand, has his eyes closed, one arm bent, his hand under his head, the other hand lying on his stomach.

“How many chocolates did you get?” Hayato suddenly asks and Ryu opens his eyes and turns his head a little to look at his friend’s profile.

“Six,” Ryu shortly answers.

“Oh, I got thirteen,” Hayato retorts and glances back at him with a smug smirk.

“Hmm, I made a mistake, I got sixteen,” Ryu declares, challenging, and turns to look at the sky. He can still feel Hayato’s eyes on him, though.

Hayato, as expected, takes on the childish challenge, “Oh yeah? Well, I got twenty-two.”

“Thirty,” Ryu counters with a bored voice. And adds a fake yawn just because.

“Forty-three,” Hayato insistently barks. Ryu guesses the other is not far from sticking his tongue out.

“Fifty-five,” Ryu mutters in the same bored voice as before.

“Sixty-seven!”

Hayato’s getting impatient.

“Seventy.”

“DAMMIT, RYU!” Hayato cries and Ryu senses it when his friend sits up abruptly.

Ryu starts snickering, his eyes still closed. Hayato huffs and shoves him, making him topple over on his side. However, Hayato’s frustration only fuels Ryu’s amusement further and the younger boy bursts out laughing, unrestricted. Hayato huffs again at Ryu but he stills smiles unwittingly at his friend’s childish antics.

After some time, Ryu’s laughter dies out and Hayato lies down again beside him; a comfortable silence engulfs them.

A few minutes of complete silence go by when Hayato breaks it again.

“You know, that guy—Kudo’s guy, was kinda flirting with you, Ryu,” Hayato says, his voice a little uncertain.

Ryu opens his eyes at the comment but doesn’t turn to look at his friend. He just frowns at the golden sky and the clouds passing by above them.

“You’re delusional, Hayato,” Ryu replies back. “He just wanted me in his gang.”

Hayato snorts. “Yeah, right. That why he was all smiles and flattery.”

“He was just being _friendly_ ,” Ryu says defensively. He doesn’t even know why he’s justifying Kato’s actions, it’s not like Hayato noticed Ryu’s reaction or anything, _right?_ , “It was a goukon, there were girls; _of course_ he’d act that way.”

“Oh, come on, Ryu! Even _you_ should be able to notice when a guy-” Hayato starts, but Ryu cuts him off.

“Shut up, Hayato,” Ryu snaps as he glares daggers at the older boy.

The silence that engulfs them this time is anything but comfortable.

Ryu is about to get up and head home when Hayato speaks again.

“Would you- I mean, if he _had_ been flirting with you, would you have- I mean, do you like-” Hayato stumbles over his own words, unable to even finish one sentence. He seems troubled—there’s a frown on his face and his lips are furrowed the way they are when he cannot come up with a solution to a problem.

Ryu feels his heart hammering furiously in his chest. He’s dreading the question and what his answer may bring yet, at the same time, he wants to finally lay it all out in the open. He wants his best friend to know about this part—this important part—of him too.

In the end, though, Ryu swallows the hammering of his heart and chooses for things to stay the same.

“You’re not making any sense, Hayato. Just- forget about it,” he mutters and looks down, not meeting his friend’s eyes. “I’m in your gang, remember?”

At that Hayato perks up and glances at Ryu. And then a sheepish smile tentatively spreads all over his face. It seems that was the only reassurance he needed to finally be at ease.

Ryu sighs as he gets up from the grass and pats away grass blades stuck to the back of the pants of his school uniform.

He fleetingly remembers Kato’s perfect teeth and dimpled smile— and the flush they brought in him.

Then Hayato stands up too and familiarly bumps his shoulder against Ryu’s; that action only makes something drop in Ryu’s stomach and then flutter—and all thoughts of Kato’s smile are forgotten.


	2. Chapter 2

Admittedly, working with Hayato is not as hard as Ryu thought it would be the first time he was introduced—or re-introduced—to his former best friend.

Okay, so they don’t spend a lot of time together, but when they do have to monitor the halls at the same time, they manage to be civil to each other.

For Ryu, that’s enough.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

As the days go by, Ryu finds out that former high-school gang lord Yabuki Hayato has somehow gained a sense of responsibility and not only does he never skip class, but he’s also never late. Ryu has to admit he is impressed. Back when they were friends Hayato couldn’t bother with getting up from bed before nine. Now he arrives at school before Ryu most of the time.

Though, when Ryu thinks about it, maybe Hayato is competing with him. It’s a petty competition, Ryu would say, since they do not get extra money or points for arriving earlier.

Still, Ryu starts arriving earlier and earlier. And so does Hayato.

They implicitly decide to stop their childish competition one morning when they both arrive at Akadou at the same time only to discover the school gates are closed.

“’m gonna go have a cup of coffee round the corner,” Ryu says after a few minutes of glaring at the gates, as if they would open by the sheer force of the Odagiri.

“Guess I’ll just wait here,” Hayato replies as he blows hot air into his joined hands. He wants to lean on the wall next to the gates—and has even tried to do it many times in the last three minutes—but it is so cold he just bounces upright as if burned by the cold.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Yabuki,” Ryu snaps. “You’ll freeze to death if you wait here. We’ll just come back together in half an hour,” he adds, impatient.

Something in Ryu’s choice of words makes the other man stop. He just stops blowing hot air into his joined hands and stares at Ryu.

“Okay, sure,” he finally says, “sure. Let’s go.”

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Hayato arrives extremely early to school—or at least by 3D’s standards. He got up early because Taku just kept on hitting the snooze button on his fucking alarm clock so today he decided he’s not going to be fashionably late because that would imply waiting for hours at the riverbank—alone.

Hayato arrives extremely early to school so he doesn’t expect to find anybody else there.

Odagiri is slouched over his own school desk, the window on his left is open and the wind is ruffling his hair. He’s asleep. And Hayato is standing two meters away from him, simply staring.

He must’ve fought with his dad, Hayato thinks worriedly. And then grimaces because, What the hell?

Odagiri—the traitor—is dead to him, so he can’t care anymore, he just can’t. He won’t let himself care.

Suddenly a strong gust of wind makes Odagiri shiver in his sleep. Hayato throws his bag carelessly on his desk chair and the force of it makes the chair topple over and fall to the floor with a raucous ‘bam!’ that echoes in the empty classroom.

Odagiri wakes up with a startle and looks around wide-eyed.

“You’re going to freeze to death if you don’t close that damn window,” Hayato tells him in a flat tone. Odagiri just stares at him, his eyes unfocused. He probably isn’t fully awake yet, because he gets up immediately after that and closes the window without a word. Not even a snarky comeback. He just closes the window and then goes back to his seat to brood in classic Odagiri style.

The fight must’ve been big for Ryu to be so out of it, Hayato thinks, his brow furrowed.

Dammit, Hayato then thinks and tries to school his expression into a neutral, not-giving-a-shit one.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

The café is just round the corner, as Ryu had said, so they get there in no time. Ryu has been there countless of times—eating lunch, having some coffee and pie while he corrects assignments, sometimes even having dinner—but Hayato, apparently, hasn’t.

They order one coffee and one latte—the last one, obviously, for Hayato—and Ryu leads them to a table. Or more like walks to his usual table—hoping, expecting—thinking Hayato will follow. Because, what’s the point of going to a café together and sitting at different tables, right?

“This place is so cozy,” Hayato comments, as he stares all around at the decorations and the sofas and armchairs interspersed with the comfy oak chairs.

Ryu replies with his trademark non-committal grunt. It’s not that he doesn’t agree; it’s just that he doesn’t know what to reply to that. Back when Hayato and Ryu were still friends, back when they talked to each other—when Hayato talked to me, Ryu corrects himself mentally—they didn’t have to fill in the gaps with nonsense and small talk. Back then, Hayato would talk, and talk and talk non-stop and Ryu would sometimes throw in a comment if he felt like it or he would just stay silent. Back then the silence didn’t feel this oppressive. It didn’t feel oppressive at all. Right now, though, Ryu’s starting to feel like inviting Hayato along was a really bad idea.

“Do you come here often?” Hayato asks, still admiring the place, the ambience or whatever. It’s really not that great, but Ryu cannot blame him, it’s easier than looking at each other’s eyes.

Hayato finally looks at Ryu when he realizes the other hasn’t even given a grunt in reply. Ryu is looking at him with his left eyebrow raised and a small amused smirk.

It takes all of five seconds for Hayato to turn red. And then start spluttering.

“I didn’t- I just- I didn’t mean it like that, stupid,” he finally manages to mumble in reply while he lowers his gaze to look intently at the red latte cup sitting comfortably between both his hands.

Ryu's smirk widens a little bit.

After that, Hayato just stays silent. Once in a while he takes a sip of his latte and keeps on with the furniture appreciation act. Ryu takes advantage of the fact that Hayato seems to find even fucking flower vases more interesting than Ryu’s face and stares at him for a long while, just taking in all those details, all those little changes Hayato has undergone and he didn’t have the chance to appreciate until now.

Hayato’s hair is still somewhat longish, but shorter and darker than before, that’s the first thing Ryu noticed when they met at the teacher’s lounge some weeks before. There are no earrings where the two little gemstones in his left ear used to be but there’s a shadow over his upper lip.

So he finally managed to grow a moustache, Ryu thinks and mentally snorts.

He realized a while ago that Hayato’s taller now, and his back is wider too. Well, that’s to be expected, Ryu thinks, he’s a grown man now. His skin is still a little tanned though, just like Ryu remembers it was back in high school.

After the silence stretches for too long, Ryu decides to behave like a grown up and, for once, he’s the one to start up an actual conversation.

“So…” Ryu starts and Hayato turns his head to face Ryu again. “I heard from Hatoyama-sensei that you just came back from America?” Ryu asks and then takes a sip from his coffee.

“Yeah, I came back one week before starting at Akadou,” Hayato answers, and then smiles a little. “I was lucky, actually, to find a job in such a short time.”

Ryu nods and takes another sip.

“And you? When did you come back from Canada?” Hayato asks with his brows furrowed. He’s got both his hands around his rather humongous latte mug, probably trying to warm up his numb fingers. Ryu stares for a fleeting moment at Hayato’s pinky and looks Hayato in the eye again.

“How did you know I was in Canada?” Ryu asks in return.

Hayato’s eyes widen almost imperceptibly and he averts his gaze again. Great. Back to the furniture, Ryu bitterly thinks.

“I also heard from Hatoyama,” Hayato answers in a rush. It’s supposed to be a statement but Hayato’s tone goes up a little bit at the end and, to Ryu, it almost sounds like a question.

Ryu decides to take Hayato’s words at face value and comments, “I’ve been back for a few months, actually.”

Hayato just nods and keeps silent until it’s time to go back to Akadou. Ryu decides not to break the silence again just to avoid the possible awkwardness breaking it may bring.

“Uhm,” Hayato hesitantly says just as they are approaching the now open gates.

“Yeah?” Ryu asks, turning his head to face him.

“Thanks for not letting me freeze to death here, I guess,” the taller man says in a low tone, still looking ahead.

Ryu looks at Hayato’s profile and grunts, then nods. Hayato slips him a little glance and then turns his head to look ahead again.

When they get to the gates they slow down their steps until they stop, barely inside the school premises.

“So, I guess I’ll get going,” Ryu mutters and looks up.

“Yeah, me too,” Hayato replies. “Ja, ne~.”

He raises his hand in a peace sign and his fingers twitch a little bit, but they stay upright in the end. He turns around and walks off hastily towards the school building.

Ryu tries to fight it off, but the corners of his lips curve into a little half smile.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

One week after they stop with their childish competition on who arrives earlier, Hayato and Ryu—and Yankumi—are invited by the other teachers to drink and have dinner at some izakaya near Akadou. The only reason why both of them—and Yankumi too—accept is because Sawatari is paying.

Ryu’s already on his second beer when they start talking about the latest shenanigans the 3D class has been up to recently. Yankumi, as always, defends her students like a mother hen would while Sawatari just keeps on whining about what a pain in the ass all the D classes are.

When Sawatari’s steam runs out, Yajima-sensei starts telling a colorful story about how he had to call an ambulance in the middle of the lesson two days before because one of the 3D students said his chest hurt and his left arm was numb. In the end, the student was faking it and Yajima had to apologize to the paramedics for his student’s prank.

“Oh, come on, those are not delinquents, those are simple pranksters,” Hayato says in such a loud voice that all those who weren’t in the conversation now are looking at Yabuki-sensei with curious eyes. Hayato takes a big gulp from his beer and then throws an arm over Yankumi’s shoulder. “We were much worse back in the day, right, Yankumi?” Hayato asks with a somewhat proud grin. Yeah, Hayato definitely isn’t on his second beer.

All of the teachers around the table—except for Sawatari and Ryu—go “EEEE!”.

“So you also were Yamaguchi-sensei’s student? Like Odagiri-sensei?” Takano-sensei asks with a surprised voice. Her eyes are wide and she’s blinking every two seconds. Ryu figures that’s what most people would consider a ‘cute’ pose.

Meanwhile, Ryu is praying to all existing gods, all of them, that Hayato won’t-

“OBVIOUSLY. Ryu and I were classmates,” Hayato answers and clinks his beer glass against Ryu’s, which is in mid-air because Ryu was about to drink from it but then Hayato, of course—of course—spewed out that fact from their past and now the questions will be endless.

“How come you never told us, Yabuki-sensei?!” somebody on his right asks. Ryu’s too busy glaring daggers in Hayato’s direction to notice whose voice it is.

Hayato clearly is at least on his fourth or fifth beer because he has this stupid fond smile on his face while he tells everybody some of the worst shenanigans they were up to while teenagers, whereas Ryu can’t help but grimace every time he remembers his three months as Yankumi’s student. His three months as Hayato’s... well, 3D’s traitorous nemesis.

Mostly, Ryu wants to maintain the peace they had been able to build over the past few weeks. It is too fragile and brittle right now and things could turn sour so quickly. So, so quickly.

If Ryu is honest with himself—and he usually is, it’s just that right now the alcohol makes him fuzzy all over, including the coherent part of his mind—he has to admit that he doesn’t want the peace gone for the sake of their working environment, but for his own personal sake. They have managed to develop this light—albeit flimsy—relationship these past few weeks based on amicable chitchatting and not reminiscing the past. Especially based on not reminiscing the past.

This unstable relationship they have now is more than Ryu could have wished for. It is more than he has had for a long time. For Ryu, that’s enough. An unstable relationship will forever beat having no relationship at all.

And now Hayato is about to ruin it all with his big mouth and alcohol-distorted memories.

Ryu downs his beer glass in a few big gulps and pours himself a glass of sake.

Yeah, this undoubtedly calls for sake.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

A paper ball bounces off Ryu’s head for the fifth time that morning making Ryu grit his teeth in annoyance and lower down his gaze to not glare at the guys at the back.

The thing is, Ryu doesn’t want to be there and, at the same time, it’s the only place where he wants to be—the only place where he feels he belongs. Just being in the same room as his former friends is comforting. Until they throw in a comment about what a coward he is, or how they wouldn’t have lost the playground if Ryu hadn’t forfeited.

Most of the time he just ignores them. He finds solace in the fact that at least one of them still believes in him. One of them still considers himself Ryu’s friend. That’s enough. It has to be. Because the other option is his house, his big ass house with his big ass bedroom and its big ass silence. His house, not his home, because home is where the heart is and Ryu’s heart is broken.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Ryu ends up wasted. He wakes up the next day with the mother of all hangovers and no recollection of the previous night’s events, or at least, no recollection after his fourth glass of sake. He doesn’t know how he got home and he can only hope he didn’t make a fool out of himself. Making a fool of himself involves taking off any piece of clothing or going on a kissing spree (as he was told he likes to do when extremely drunk) but, mostly, it involves punching Hayato for saying vile things about his 18-year-old self or, worse, breaking down in tears for the same reason.

In any case, he hopes he at least still has a job, since his relationship with Hayato probably crumbled hours before while he was awfully drunk.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Turns out he only made a fool out of himself because he started telling stories about Hayato and himself when they were younger, and more carefree; when Ryu hadn’t betrayed Hayato to protect his second best friend. Apparently, Hayato stopped telling stories belonging to the Yankumi period and joined him on telling the much happier stories of their childhood.

It seems Ryu’s drunk self is much more intelligent people-wise than sober Ryu will ever be.


	3. Chapter 3

Take definitely isn’t the brightest bulb in the box, not by far. But he is really good and insightful when it comes to people and relationships. That’s why he realizes the one to go to with the Ara High issue is Ryu. That’s why he realizes that Ryu’s conflicting feelings are not only those of bitterness for having fallen out with his best friend but of somebody whose heart has just been broken.

Take is really good and insightful when it comes to people and relationships, that’s why he doesn’t understand how Hayato and Ryu can look at each other and not see they are hurting for the exact same reasons.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Take finally explodes one night after too many highballs.

After Ryu left for Canada his ties with Japan were severed. At first, he e-mailed Take once or twice a week. Then his e-mails became less and less frequent until they finally stopped.

However, after their encounter the day Yankumi defeated the drug dealer, Take asked for Ryu’s new number and e-mail account and they have been texting regularly ever since.

And today Take received a text from Ryu in response to one of his texts (because Ryu _never_ texts first) and invited him over to the bar. Hyuuga and Tsucchi had said they were okay with it when Take asked because it’s been a long time, water under the bridge and all that stuff. Plus: they are sober.

Drunk Hyuuga and Tsucchi, however... that's another story.

“-and then you fucking decided fighting was stupid and bowed to them!” Tsucchi laments as he facepalms and shakes his head from side to side.

“That was so not cool man, so not cool,” Hyuuga moans and then takes a sip from his beer.

Ryu stands up and calmly takes his blazer from the back of the chair he had been sitting on until then.

“I guess I’ve overstayed my welcome or something,” he grunts as he puts on the garment.

Take hurriedly stands up too and grabs his arm. “You don’t have to leave, Ryu-” he pleads.

Meanwhile, Tsucchi is still retelling the events of Ryu’s betrayal to himself with bitter despair while Hyuuga pats his back comfortingly with a disappointed look on his face.

Ryu finishes putting on the blazer and looks at Take. The shorter guy is staring at him with wide, pleading eyes. “It’s alright, really. Don’t worry about it,” Ryu assures him with a pat on his shoulder and a—hopefully—reassuring tiny smile. “It’s been some time, but I’m still used to it.”

When Ryu turns to leave, Take explodes.

“It’s _not_ alright! Why do you have to play martyr all the time?!” Take asks, exasperated, and renders Ryu speechless. “I’m tired of this. I’m no longer a scared boy, I don’t need you to protect me anymore.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Tsucchi asks after raising his head from the table. His forehead has a big red spot right in the middle of it from being in contact with the table for so long.

“Take,” Ryu warns him with a stern voice.

“Ryu forfeited because he was protecting me, okay?!” Take blurts out and frantically points at his face with his index finger.

Tsucchi’s mouth is hanging open comically (and the red spot on his forehead only adds to the funny image) and Hyuuga has stopped patting Tsucchi’s back, his hand just resting lifelessly against his friend’s shoulder blade. He’s staring at Take with a bewildered expression too, but he’s not gaping as much as Tsucchi, at least.

Ryu is still, motionless. He has been alternatively dreading and looking forward to this conversation for half a decade. But now that the time has come to tell his high school friends the truth, he can’t move or say anything—nothing will come out of his mouth. He can just watch.

Take stares back at Ryu resolutely and then goes on.

“Ryu didn’t bow in front of the Ara punks because he was scared or- or thought fighting was stupid,” he confesses, more firmly now that he knows he’s got his three friends’ attention. “He did it because I asked him to.”

Hyuuga and Tsucchi are bewildered, to say the least. Ryu keeps on watching, transfixed.

“I went to Ryu two days before the fight and told him I was scared, because I wasn’t as strong as him and Hayato.” Take elaborates. “My mama was so proud of me at that time, ya know? She’d never thought we would get so far,” he adds while he scratches the back of his neck and chuckles at the memory of his mother’s enthusiasm about their graduation. “I just- I didn’t want to disappoint her. I wanted us to graduate together, all of us, and then Sawatari came and told us he would expel us if we fought and…” Take’s voice trails off as he looks down in shame, at his tiny feet, probably.

“I said it was alright, Take,” Ryu finally murmurs. “It’s a stupid thing from the past and it can’t be changed, anyway.”

He pats Take twice on his right shoulder and turns to start walking towards the exit.

“Hey, wait! The past cannot be changed but it’s not a stupid thing either,” Hyuuga says, and Ryu stops once again and turns slightly around. “I’m not even mad anymore, I just- I was talking shit, remembering the past. I’m sorry, Ryu. For everything.”

“Yeah,” Tsucchi agrees. “We treated you so badly back then, man—wow! And you were just trying to- you were protecting Take- protecting us. And- and I’m not mad either, okay? I was just being a sad drunk. I’m sorry for bringing that up, man.”

Tsucchi and Hyuuga are now sitting upright again, looking more sober than before, staring at him with pity in their eyes.

That’s when Ryu realizes they really weren’t mad

“See? That’s why I didn’t want you to tell them,” Ryu tells Take as he nods in Hyuuga and Tsucchi’s direction.

“Because they’d forgive you?” Take asks rhetorically and judgingly raises one eyebrow.

“Shut up,” Ryu retorts with no malice and flushes slightly. He clears his throat and nonchalantly adds, “and, just for the record, I didn’t do it for y’all, I just didn’t want to see Take’s mom cry."

Ryu’s last comment elicits a loud chuckle from Tsucchi and some giggling from Hyuuga. The three of them start bantering and laughing loudly. Tsucchi gets up from his chair and affectionately slaps Ryu’s shoulder with his humongous hand and a warm, welcoming smile on his face. Ryu winces a bit at the hit, but he can feel his lips curling up slightly.

Take raises his head just as Ryu is sitting down on the chair again. But the shorter man doesn’t follow suit. He just stays there, standing, watching his friends rebuild their friendship from scratch.

He cannot help but grin like an idiot.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Take still feels a little bad, though, because the person he wanted to tell the truth to the most isn’t there to hear it.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Ryu doesn’t expect to hear Hayato’s laughter first thing after he enters their usual bar.

 _Take, you sly brat_ , Ryu thinks.

It’s the first time Hayato joins them since he got back from America. Ryu can’t say he wasn’t expecting it to happen someday, but he had thought Take would at least give him a heads-up about it.

Ryu ignores the nervousness he can start to feel spreading inside of him and approaches their usual table at the back, against the window. Hayato is telling a story to the gang while gesticulating exaggeratedly. However, his storytelling doesn’t seem to be going smoothly, since he bursts out laughing _very_ loudly and obnoxiously every few words.

“Yo,” Ryu greets them when he gets to their table. They all turn to look at him and greet him back. He stares pointedly at Take, but the shorter boy ignores him shamelessly. 

“Yo, Odagiri,” Hayato greets him and, pushes back the chair on his left—the only free chair in the table—in invitation. He is not smiling but his eyes are crinkling with mirth at the corners. He takes a big gulp from his beer and Ryu’s eyes can’t help but linger on his Adam’s apple as it bobs up and down. “I was updating the guys on Yankumi’s last escapades,” he mumbles after he unceremoniously wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Oh, you were telling them about Watanabe’s fuck-up?” Ryu asks him as he hangs his blazer on the back of the chair and sits down on it. His stomach does a little somersault at the familiarity of it all—the five of them together, Ryu sitting beside Hayato, the casual banter.

“OH, GOD! I’d forgotten about that!” Hayato suddenly shrieks and drops his head to the table while he bangs his closed fist against it and sniggers uncontrollably. He suddenly looks up, lets out a hearty laugh and says with a thin and high little voice, “Hyuuga’s gonna love this one,” and then drops his head again to keep on snickering childishly.

Ryu chuckles at Hayato’s antics while the other three just stare at both of them amusedly.

After a while Hayato still cannot stop laughing, so he amicably orders Ryu to tell the story himself.

“Well, two weeks ago, one of Yankumi’s students, a kid named Watanabe, came to school with a new scooter and, obviously, everyone in 3D was really excited about it,” Ryu starts. He is not laughing incessantly like Hayato, but he cannot quite stop an amused smirk from forming on his face. “But Yankumi was a little suspicious, because that kid was not exactly loaded, and to get a scooter out of the blue- well, it wasn’t normal, you know?”

Hayato has now raised his head from the table but still giggles from time to time. Take, Hyuuga and Tsucchi stare attentively at Ryu while he tells them the story but they glance at Hayato from time to time, probably to laugh at his reactions.

“Then, three days later, Watanabe skipped school,” Ryu says while he pours himself a glass of beer, “and when Yankumi asked Watanabe’s friends whether they knew something or not, they told her that the kid had been working for some pretty sketchy people during the last few weeks.” At this Take bursts out laughing and Hayato looks at his shortest friend with a knowing grin on his face.

“ _Of course_ Yankumi couldn’t just let it be,” Ryu continues and rolls his eyes.

“Of course,” the rest reply in unison while nodding their heads in agreement.

“So… she went to Watanabe’s house and when she didn’t get anything there, she just started digging around the area to see if anyone knew something about the kid.” Ryu raises his glass of beer to his mouth and takes a large gulp. Hayato and Take are still snickering lowly; Hyuuga and Tsucchi, on the other hand, are listening to him attentively, their glasses forgotten on the table and the beer going flat. “After some time, she actually found out where the kid was working.”

Suddenly, there’s a muffled yelp coming from his right side and when Ryu looks in that direction Hayato has his arms crossed over his chest and a hand covering his mouth. His whole body is shaking with suppressed laughter.

Ryu just smirks a little wider and shakes his head at Hayato’s childish behavior.

 _Is he ever going to grow up?,_ Ryu thinks fondly.

Then he turns his face away, towards the rest of the gang, to go on with the story. “When Yankumi got to the place, well-” Ryu stops here and takes another big gulp of beer, stalling the ending of the story. Tsucchi is looking at him murderously already. Hyuuga is so absorbed with the story he doesn’t notice Take stealing his cellphone from his jacket pocket. “Turns out the kid was working-”

“-AT A MASSAGE PARLOR,” Hayato exclaims, cutting Ryu off.

“-at a massage parlor,” Ryu finally finishes and then glances sideways at Hayato once again. The man is looking at him sideways, the corners of his mouth twitching and his body shaking with suppressed laughter. When he looks back at the guys, Take is looking at both Ryu and Hayato and the smile on his face is so wide his cheeks are probably going to hurt later. Ryu pretends he doesn’t notice the way Take’s eyes shine and crinkle when Hayato pats Ryu’s shoulder in camaraderie.

Tsucchi seems to have caught on, too, because he lets out a “ha!” as his head falls backwards and when he straightens up and drops his face on his palms there’s a knowing smirk on his face.

Hyuuga looks at Tsucchi and then at the rest, a puzzled look on his face. “I still don’t get it, guys,” he moans and Take chuckles as Tsucchi mutters a “oh, God, Hyuuga!” and facepalms.

“Hyuuga, who owns most massage parlors—if not all?” Take patiently asks.

“The yaku- oh. OH!” Hyuuga gasp, his eyes wide. Hayato bursts out laughing once again. Ryu again pretends to find him childish instead of completely endearing. “But, did he know he was working for the yakuza?” Hyuuga asks after a moment.

“No, that’s the point!” Hayato blurts out and chuckles. “The guys there were even wearing white suits and floral shirts, I mean, the whole yakuza stereotype, right?” Hayato rhetorically asks the rest. Ryu is slumped back against the back of his chair now, his hands in his pants’ pockets and a smirk on his face. He’s watching Hayato amusedly and enjoying the other’s excitement. He had forgotten how it felt to be _part_ of it—not just a distant observer. “And still, the kid was so dumb he didn’t realize. He just thought those thugs didn’t have any fashion sense!”

“At least Hyuuga’s boss dressed normally, right?” Tsucchi comments and Hyuuga once again gasps and then points his finger at Hayato’s face.

“So that’s why you said I’d like this story! That’s nothing like me! Nothing!” He cries out, indignant, and pouts. Hayato lets out a hearty laugh and clutches his belly. His eyes squeezed shut and his grin _infinite_.

Tsucchi and Take are laughing along with Hayato now, too. Ryu watches them silently and feels his chest swell up at everything—because it’s _now_ , but it’s also _then_.

He takes a deep breath and when he lets it all out there’s a pleasant warmth sitting snugly in the middle of his chest.


	4. Chapter 4

When Hayato starts working at Akadou, he is assigned as the homeroom teacher of 1C, which is not the best class but is not that bad either (the D classes are always the worst). Hayato’s class consists mainly of students who are not so smart to be in 1A or B and cannot afford to pay for cram school, yet, at the same time, they aren’t into fighting or stealing so they are not delinquents like their schoolmates from 1D. Hayato’s class consists mainly of what Hayato could have been had he not been bullied—and then taken it out on everyone else, bully or not—during middle school.

He is pretty proud of his students and would fight for them tooth and nail if necessary, because no matter how much they scream, or how many paper planes they throw at him during class, they are good kids. And Hayato…

Hayato’s always been protective of those he considers his own.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

One Monday, almost three weeks after that night at the izakaya, Miura-kun, one of Hayato’s precious students, arrives at school with a fresh shiner on his face. Hayato anxiously waits and eavesdrops on his students’ conversations the whole day to try to find out whether the punch was sustained by some D class student (of any year) or by somebody from other school.

However, nobody ever asks Miura-kun about his shiner, and Miura-kun doesn’t boast about the fight or about how the other guy got it worse than him.

A heavy weight settles on Hayato’s chest, and he cannot shake it off.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Ryu wakes up to the shrill sound of his phone ringing. It’s Hayato’s ringtone. _Not now, not today._

“This is Ryu,” he says after connecting the call. He tries to make his voice sound as sleepy as he can.

“Hey! Ryu! How come you’re not here yet? Too beaten after yesterday’s fight, Odagiri?” Hayato teasingly asks. There’s noise coming from the background that sounds a lot like many voices cheering.

“Yeah,” Ryu answers. “Yeah, I just couldn’t get up.” He pauses. “I’m not going today, Hayato. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Boo, Ryu-chan!” Hayato whines, and several ‘Boo, Ryu-chan!’s can be heard in the background. Those losers, always cheering Hayato on in everything he says or does. “Meet us later at the café, okay?”

“I’ll think about it,” Ryu quietly replies, and hopes that Hayato won’t insist.

“Mou~ Today Ryu’s much broodier than usual, ne?” And their 3D friends all agree in the background.

“I’m beat, I’ll talk to you later,” Ryu says and disconnects the call with a sigh.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Six hours later there’s some knocking on his window. Ryu curses.

“Hey, open up!” Hayato shouts from the outside.

“Shut up! My father’s gonna hear you!” Ryu shout-whispers while he opens the window.

“We were waiting for you for like- _eight_ hours and-“ Hayato is saying while he gets in the room and then he stops talking abruptly. Ryu turns his face away, starts rummaging through his closet for something, anything.

“Ryu, did you fall off the bed face first this morning?” Hayato asks, and then chuckles nervously. “Because it looks like you are more bruised up than when I last saw you yesterday- and I-” He stops again and takes the few steps that are separating him from his best friend. When Ryu, once again, faces away, Hayato takes his chin between his thumb and his index finger and turns it to his side.

Ryu’s left eye is pretty swollen and there’s a cut on his lower lip. Those weren’t there the day before when Hayato dropped Ryu off before going home himself.

“Ryu, did you go after those bastards without me?!” Hayato roars. Ryu pushes him on the shoulder and walks away.

“No, I didn’t g-” He tries to say, but Hayato is totally absorbed in his leader mode.

“I told you it was okay! They were _cheating_ , they had pipes and baseball bats.”

“No, Hayato, it wasn’t like-” Ryu tries to explain once again but gets cut off by Hayato’s annoying and endless ranting.

“So it’s okay that we ran off because if we hadn’t they could’ve killed us and now look at what they did to y-”

“WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP FOR A MOMENT?!” Ryu grabs Hayato’s forearm and cuts him off. It’s the first time Hayato has heard his best friend yell. “I JUST- I- I didn’t go after those assholes, okay?”

“Okay,” Hayato says but then how did your face get so messed up?” Hayato asks, puzzled. His brows are furrowed together in confusion. And then he starts talking non-stop and Ryu really wants him to shut up but he knows the moment he shuts up will be the moment he finally _gets_ it. And he’s dreading it. “Because I’m sure that when I left you here last night your eye wasn’t all swollen like a blackberry like it is right now and your lip was only bruised so if you didn’t get beaten up by those guys then you-”

Ryu is so quiet and still. He’s not facing Hayato, he’s looking to the side, as if he were ashamed.

Hayato inhales through his nose, making a lot of noise in the process.

Ryu is only _fourteen_. How can anybody do that to their own son? How can-? Even Hayato’s dad with his temper- even in his worst moments… he would never-

Hayato lets all the air out soundlessly through his clenched teeth, controlled.

“Where is he?” Hayato asks, with a threateningly low voice. He’s only fourteen too, but his tone makes Ryu flinch and turn to look at his friend.

“He’s downstairs,” Ryu mutters.

“I’m gonna kill him, I’m gonna kill him RIGHT NOW!” Hayato suddenly yells and all the composure he had had up until that point just evaporates. He tries to go for the door but Ryu latches onto his arm again and pleads.

“Hayato, don’t do this, please, if you confront him, he won’t let me hang out with you guys anymore.”

“I DON’T FUCKING CARE!” Hayato bellows and shakes his arm. His nostrils are flaring, there’s a vein on his neck that looks like it’s going to burst any time now.

Hayato starts moving with Ryu still clinging on his arm so Ryu holds even tighter on Hayato, latches on him with his whole body.

“ _I_ CARE, OKAY? I beg you, please! You’re my only friends! You’re the only thing I’ve got!” Ryu begs desperately.

Hayato stops all of a sudden. His breathing is agitated, his chest heaving. He's not looking at Ryu.

Ryu lets out a shaky breath.

“You’re- you guys are all I’ve got, Hayato.” He murmurs, still gripping Hayato’s arm with all he’s got, even when it’s not necessary anymore. There are two or three dark splotches on Hayato’s shirt sleeve which weren’t there moments ago. Ryu’s face is downcast.

Hayato hugs Ryu with his other arm and it’s awkward, but Ryu just won’t let go of his left arm.

“I swear I’m going to protect you next time, you hear me?” Hayato whispers against Ryu’s ear. “I’m your best friend, Ryu, I’ll always protect you.”

They are only teenagers but Ryu has never believed in anyone—not any adult, not even his parents—as much as he believes in Hayato.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

The day after his father finds out he came back to Kurogin even after he had promised he wouldn’t, even after all the trouble his father had gone through to make sure Ryu would graduate—that same day, Ryu arrives into the classroom with a cut above his left eyebrow and a pretty nasty bruise on his jaw.

Everyone in 3D snarls at him and tells him he deserves getting beaten up because he’s a traitor.

Everyone—except Hayato (and Take, of course).

Five minutes after Ryu arrives, Hayato leaves. On the way out he kicks everything his feet encounter.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

By Wednesday morning, Hayato already knows who punched Miura-kun. The weight only gets heavier.

Wednesday afternoon is monitoring duty with Odagiri-sensei, so Hayato relaxes a little bit, because he doesn’t have to be teaching English grammar or concentrating on his pronunciation for at least two hours. He can use that time to think.

Ryu notices something’s off with Hayato when he hits his shoulder against a wall for the third time. Hayato’s a pretty clumsy guy, but three times in a row is too much, even for him.

“What’s wrong?” Ryu casually asks and then stops walking.

It takes a moment for Hayato to realize Ryu has stopped walking and is now talking to him. He’s _so_ out of it.

“Uhm, nothing, why?” Hayato distractedly answers.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you are not babbling non-stop as you always do and you’re clumsier than usual?” Ryu calmly asks back.

Hayato simply stares at him with a surprised look on his face and then blinks and glances away.

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” he insists and adds what he hopes looks like a reassuring smile for good measure.

Ryu glares at him for a few seconds and then raises his left eyebrow. It’s always the left eyebrow.

“Cut the crap, Yabuki,” Ryu curtly demands.

Hayato, once again, just stares at Ryu, as if pondering whether he can be trusted with such important information. After some time, he seems to have reached a conclusion and sighs. And then he looks at the ceiling and rubs the palms of his hands against his cheeks and his face.

“Okay, yeah,” Hayato says and then stops. “So, uhm. Well, I have a- one of my students he is-” he pauses again and then swallows. His Adam’s apple bobbing up and down slowly. “One of my students came to school two days ago sporting a very black eye.”

Hayato stops talking and looks at Ryu expectantly, as if that piece of information alone should be of any significance to Ryu.

“And…?” Ryu prompts.

“And nobody asked him anything about it and he didn’t brag about it either,” Hayato finally adds.

Ryu stares impassively at Hayato’s expectant and anxious face.

“So what?”

“So I think he’s having trouble at home and I think he’s been having it for a long time, because his classmates didn’t seem surprised when they saw him all bruised up.”

Hayato’s face is not expectant anymore. Only anxiety shows now, anxiety and concern.

“Yabuki…” Ryu cocks his head a little to the side. “Is this about-” he starts, but then he cuts himself off. Pauses. “Are you sure? Couldn’t he be a victim of bullying?”

Ryu’s trying to be reasonable, Hayato knows that, but the fact that Ryu doesn’t trust his judgment stings a little.

“Look, you don’t want to believe me? Okay. Forget I mentioned it. Let’s get on with the monitoring,” Hayato bitterly snaps and starts walking again.

Ryu forcefully grabs his arm to stop him and Hayato flinches. They haven’t touched like this in years. Not even now, when they’ve been working together for some time. Maybe the occasional casual pat on the back in the last few weeks if they were drunk enough or distracted enough, but that's it.

Hayato looks at Ryu over his shoulder and Ryu looks into the other’s eyes with an intensity that makes a shiver run down Hayato’s back and says, “I didn’t say I didn’t believe you, I was just making sure you weren’t jumping to conclusions because of-” And there he pauses. “Because of personal reasons.”

“I just- I feel it here- here, in my guts,” Hayato says while he presses his outstretched hand against his abdomen and then clutches his blazer and shirt in his fisted hand. “I know I’m right, Ryu, you believe me, don’t you?” he asks, his eyes frantically looking for the answer in Ryu’s own.

It’s the first time Hayato has called him ‘Ryu’ instead of ‘Odagiri’ or ‘Odagiri-sensei’ since they fell out.

(Because that one time while he was drunk doesn’t count, Hayato tends to get affectionate while drunk—much like Ryu).

Ryu feels as if someone has punched him in the gut and left him breathless. But he tries to recover quickly because Hayato is still staring at him, his eyes a little wide, his breathing agitated and then-

Then Ryu realizes that, even after all this time and after all the shit they’ve been through, he still trusts Hayato more than he has ever trusted anyone else.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

“So, how do you want to go about it? Are you going to tell Saruwatari first or are you going to call the police?” Ryu asks Hayato as soon as they sit down with their order.

They are at the café round the corner of Akadou again. Hayato asked Ryu whether he wanted to go have a coffee together to discuss the issue and Ryu just couldn’t refuse.

Hayato looks at him with bewilderment.

“Wha-? No. Why? I mean, I’m going to talk to the man first, see what he has to say,” Hayato answers and then takes a bite off his chocolate muffin.

Ryu frowns at him.

“What do you mean you’re ‘going to talk to him’?” Ryu asks warily. “No, you have to be careful. This is not something you can go and solve by yourself, Hayato.”

“I know, believe me, I know,” Hayato agrees, “but Sawatari is not an option, he wouldn’t do anything about it because Miura-kun is neither rich nor from 1A.” Then he pauses. “And the police…” He trails off and gives Ryu a long look. “Well,” he coughs, “uhm, let’s say I don’t trust them with something like this. They would take too long and Miura-kun- he’s defenseless he can’t-”

“Okay, I get it,” Ryu cuts him off. “I get it, but I still think you should go the normal way- the legal way. You could be fired because of this,” Ryu adds and stares at Hayato, his brows furrowed in concern.

“Look, I know you’re worried, but nothing will happen, okay?” Hayato assures him. “I’ll just call him in for a teacher-parent meeting. I’ll just feed him some crap about Miura-kun’s recent performance or something. And then, once he’s with me in the classroom, I’ll confront him,” Hayato says and nods to himself, as if he’s reassuring himself as much as Ryu that his plan is flawless.

“But, he could react bad-” Ryu tries again, insistent. Hayato just doesn’t understand and Ryu’s getting kind of impatient because this situation is starting to feel more and more like a déjà vu to him.

“Stop it already,” Hayato dryly says, indicating he’s done talking about it.

This is Hayato, what did Ryu expect?

He’s going to stick to his plan because he always thinks everything will be alright. That’s the way he does things. Hayato, the eternal optimist.

Ryu takes a sip of his black coffee. It burns his throat on the way down.

It’s Ara High all over again and Ryu feels hopeless. Just like last time.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

“Hayato, won’t you listen to me for just a minute?!” Ryu almost shouts pleadingly to Hayato’s back. They have been talking about tomorrow’s fight since they left the arcade half an hour ago. Hayato’s been dodging Ryu’s concerned comments like a pro.

“Are you scared? Is that it?” Hayato says as he finally turns around to face him. “You don’t have to be, Ryu, I’ve got your back,” Hayato adds with a grin and his trademark bendy peace sign.

“I’m not- argh!” Ryu growls as he kicks a water bottle that is lying in the middle of the street. The bottle crashes against a wall and bounces back.

They walk in silence for a little while until Ryu speaks again with a quiet voice.

“Aren’t you worried they’ll expel us all and we won’t get to graduate?”

“Why would I? We’re going to crush those Ara dickheads and we’ll arrive at school the day after tomorrow with not even a scratch. Saruwatari will never know,” Hayato expresses confidently. He’s got his hands in his pockets and a pleased shit-eating smile on his face, acting as if nothing could go wrong.

Hayato never doubts himself or his plans. He always thinks everything is going to turn out alright. He’s like a kid in that sense, he doesn’t assess possible damage, he doesn’t think about possible risks, pros and cons. He just acts on impulse. He has this blind faith in the future turning out to be just the way he wants it to—and Ryu usually finds this side of him very endearing. He likes how unpredictable and self-confident the other boy can be, he’s magnetic when he acts that way. Yet, today, what Ryu would like is for his friend to just grow the fuck up.

Everything could go wrong. Ryu’s aware of it. He wasn’t worried about it two days ago, but then Take came and told him his deepest fears with tears in his eyes and Ryu promised him he’d deal with it because he never wants to see Take in that hopeless state again.

And, if he’s honest with himself, once Take started talking about how awesome it would be for them to graduate together after all this time, Ryu just couldn’t stop thinking about it. He couldn’t stop thinking about Hayato’s dad, who even if he’d never admit it, is relieved his son hasn’t dropped out yet; and Take’s mom, who’s so proud of him for getting so far and is really looking forward to his son graduating high school. But, mostly, he thinks about Hayato’s mom, about how she never lost her faith in her son, no matter what he did to prove her wrong.

 _It_ would _be nice_ , Ryu thinks, and he’s going to make sure it happens.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Friday morning rolls around and Ryu’s not feeling well. His stomach has been churning since the night before and no matter what he eats, food just doesn’t stay down.

He hasn’t decided yet whether he’ll tell Sawatari about it or not. He spent most of Thursday night thinking about it until exhaustion won and he fell asleep around five in the morning.

Ryu spends all morning spacing out, dropping things and being an all-around klutz. Some of his students make fun of him, because usually collected and proper Odagiri-sensei has not only come to school wearing suit pants and sneakers, but has also bumped into his desk four times and every chalk he has tried to use has broken in two halves because of the strength he applies to them while writing on the board.

By the time noon arrives and, hence, lunch break, Ryu has made a decision.


	5. Chapter 5

The day of the fight—the fight that will never happen—Ryu gets up, has a cup of tea and a leftover onigiri and heads to the Ara High headquarters. Usually, he and Hayato go together to school. Today Ryu fed Hayato a lie about his father wanting to drop Ryu off at school to avoid them going together. Hayato’s so excited about the fight that he buys into it, doesn’t even stop to think for a minute about how ridiculous it is that Ryu’s father suddenly wants to behave like a caring parent.

When he’s one block away from Ara High’s headquarters—it’s just an abandoned warehouse, but calling it ‘headquarters’ makes those punks feel important—he barfs what seems like all the contents of his stomach on the protruding roots of a ginkgo tree and the soil beneath.

Ryu forfeits the fight. As he bows down, bile goes up his throat and burns all the way from his stomach to the back of his mouth.

 _So that’s what betrayal tastes like,_ Ryu thinks, and swallows it all down.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Ryu explains the situation to principal Sawatari and all the while he feels the bile rise up in his throat. Sawatari doesn’t react at first, pretty chill in the face of a possible disaster. Until he realizes this is Yabuki they are talking about. Both of them know all too well what Hayato is capable of.

However, Ryu was too slow and now the yelling can be heard from the stairs, some twenty meters away from the actual classroom where the commotion is taking place.

“HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF THAT?!” a man’s voice roars as a chair scrapes against the floor.

“I’m not accusing you of anything, Miura-san,” Hayato says in a firm tone. His voice is composed but loud, not quite yelling yet.

“Yes, you are, you son of a bitch!” the man insists—still yelling—and there’s a loud ‘bang’.

Ryu picks up speed and Sawatari follows suit.

“I’m just saying that your kid coming with a messed-up face and then you coming with a swollen hand a few days later can be pretty suspicious, can’t it?” Hayato explains slowly, as if he were talking to a four-year-old kid.

They arrive at the classroom just as Miura-san’s fist collides with Hayato’s left cheek and Hayato’s face forcefully moves to the side from the impact. Miura-kun’s father retrieves his hand and holds it in pain.

Hayato’s own hands are clenching and unclenching against his sides; yet, aside from the red spot now forming on his left cheek, nobody would be able to guess he’s just received a blow to his face. He’s unperturbed, so unlike the Hayato Ryu knew back in high school. _That_ Hayato would’ve pounced on the man long ago.

“You- Principal Sawatari! This man here is accusing me of hitting my son! You have to fire him! Fire him!” the man exclaims as soon as he notices their presence. Ryu first notices the man's crazy stare—his eyes are so open and unfocused it's almost scary—but then he looks down and notices the scraped skin on the man's knuckles. That doesn't look new.

Surprisingly, Hayato doesn’t say anything; when Ryu turns to look at him, he’s just standing there, impassive.

Ryu can’t believe his eyes. He really did it. Hayato really did confront the man with no violence whatsoever. He didn’t even punch the man back. Ryu’s so proud of Hayato his chest just swells with the feeling.

Sawatari doesn’t know what to do, he alternatively looks at Miura-san and Hayato, obviously torn between defending his subordinate—who, contrary to what both Ryu and him had been expecting, did not step out of line—and complying with the demands of a student’s father who just punched said subordinate. He wisely decides to play Switzerland.

“I’m sorry for whatever thing Yabuki-sensei might have told you, which clearly upset you, Miura-san,” Sawatari says, and then starts motioning towards the door. “Please come with me to the staff room, we will have tea and we will discuss this matter further.”

The man is clearly displeased with Sawatari’s actions; he probably had been expecting the principal to fire Hayato on the spot, but Sawatari's not budging. When he realizes there's no other way but to follow the principal, he glances at Hayato one last time and follows Sawatari out the door.

Ryu watches them until they disappear down the corridor and then turns around to face Hayato once again.

“I’d say I can’t fucking believe you, but I guess you just can’t help it, can you?” Hayato spits with a scornful smirk as soon as Ryu has turned around. Hayato’s looking at Ryu with such fury he feels a chill go down his spine. “Once a traitor, forever a traitor. I should have expected this from you, Odagiri, but I guess I'm still too dumb,” Hayato finishes with a sneer and starts packing his things.

Ryu’s rooted to his spot. He knew this would happen. Yet, when he arrived at the classroom with Sawatari and saw Hayato acting all composed he thought that maybe _this_ Hayato would understand his reasons. Maybe _this_ Hayato would see why he did it, why he went behind Hayato’s back. But the end doesn’t justify the means, apparently, and Ryu's hope vanishes quickly.

Hayato stuffs the last of his belongings inside his briefcase and turns to leave, and just as Ryu is about to stop him—to try to explain himself, to do something, anything—all the other teachers arrive, probably having heard of the disturbance. They all swarm around Hayato and start asking questions. Nurse Ayukawa starts tending to his face and Takano-sensei helps him sit down and asks him if he’s alright. Yankumi is bouncing on her feet, she’s so proud of him and so bad at hiding it Ryu almost wants to smile.

Hayato answers all of their questions quietly, probably wishing them away. He takes Yankumi’s excited punch on his shoulder with a half wince, half smile, and then chuckles when she apologizes after realizing he has been hit on the face less than five minutes before. He doesn’t even spare Ryu a glance. Honestly, this new Hayato may be more civil and composed, but Ryu would have preferred a punch to the face rather than this unbearable _nothing_.

Ryu leaves and while he’s walking towards his own classroom he tries to convince himself that it was for the best, that it was the right thing to do and that it's pretty fucking unfair that it’s always Ryu the one who has to suck it up and play grown-up.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Ryu spends all weekend between fits of feeling proud of what he did and then berating himself for betraying Hayato once more, for losing this—whatever it is, _was_ —once again.

He rejects Kengo’s invitation to go to his place and have dinner on Saturday night without one ounce of regret or concern. Take’s invitation to go have some beers together, though, is much harder to reject. He does so anyway.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

“Did you hear, Yamaguchi-sensei?” Ryu overhears Takano-sensei say on Tuesday. “Yabuki-sensei was taken into custody yesterday.”

Ryu’s right hand freezes where it was writing on the planning sheet for his next lesson.

“What?!” Yankumi asks, astonished. “The pigs have him?! Why?!” Ryu winces.

“The pigs?” Takano-sensei asks, confused, and Ryu looks up and gives an alarmed long stare to Yankumi, who apologetically shrugs back. Takano-sensei lets it go in the end, because, apparently, what she has to say is much more important. “It seems that- do you remember Miura-kun’s father? The man who was here last Friday and punched Yabuki-sensei in the face?” She asks, and Ryu feels a chill go down his spine, making the little curl at the end of the 'ru' character he was writing come out a little wobbly.

“Yes, I remember him. Don’t tell me Yabuki tried to take revenge,” Yankumi says with dread.

“No, it wasn’t like that- well, that is what Ayukawa-san told me. Anyway, it seems that Yabuki-sensei couldn’t let go of the matter that easily so, when Monday came and Miura-kun didn’t come to school, Yabuki-sensei decided to go to his house to find out what had happened,” Takano-sensei stops her little recount for effect. “But when he got there, nobody answered the door,” she goes on, her voice dropping a few octaves in a lame attempt to sound mysterious, “so he tried the doorknob and, since the door was unlocked, it opened.” Ryu can't help but listen attentively, all his other senses, his whole body, numb, frozen in place. He's completely engrossed in the story Takano-sensei is retelling—dreading what will come next but still dying to hear it. “When he got inside the genkan, though, he heard noises coming from the kitchen, so he followed them. And then he saw it,” Takano-sensei pauses for dramatic effect. Ryu holds his breath.

“He saw what?” Yankumi impatiently asks.

“He saw Miura-kun’s father hitting him. Hitting him non-stop. All the while saying things like ‘you’re not going back to that school!’ and ‘how dare you tell your teacher?’ and such.” She says those last two phrases using a low tone, probably imitating the man’s voice. Yankumi is mumbling to herself something that sounds a lot like ‘that fucking bastard’ and ‘who does he think he is, hitting a kid’. Ryu is still speechless. “The kid had to call the cops and it took two of them to stop Yabuki-sensei. They say he was like- like- _possessed_.”

“Do you know where they got him?” Yankumi hurriedly asks as she stands up. Ryu wants to stand up too. He wants to dash off towards the police station. Yet he’s rooted to his spot, with his pen still hovering over the paper and a lost look on his face.

“Oh, no, they have released him already,” Takano-sensei explains.

And Yankumi rushes out of the building all the same.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

After the incident Hayato won’t speak to him unless necessary. The other teachers don’t understand why Yabuki-sensei is being so cold towards Odagiri-sensei when the week before he was calling him 'Ryu' and spending lunch time with him.

Hall monitoring becomes a torture Ryu somehow looks forward to every week because Hayato won’t speak to him—and whenever he does, he doesn’t meet Ryu’s eyes—but, ultimately, they get to spend some time together.

At least this time it’s just Hayato hating on him and not a whole class, Ryu bitterly reflects.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Take is frankly a little tired of this. After that first meeting at the izakaya—or more like their reunion—he had thought— _hoped_ —that things were on their way to be like they used to be in the past, all those years ago. Only now Hayato is not talking to Ryu once more and— _their_ —history seems to be repeating itself as if on loop.

Therefore, when he texts his friends to come and have a beer with him, he’s not surprised by Hayato’s answer.

_odagiri going 2 be there??_

Ryu, who is infinite times better than Hayato at acting like he doesn’t care, already fed him what he supposes is a lie and is not coming.

 _no_ , Take answers, _ryu’s not comin, he’s got sth. it’s juts goin to be u, me and tsucchi. huuyga’s got sth 2._

_‘kay, see u there, then._

Hayato fashionably arrives twenty minutes late. When he gets there, he just slumps on the chair and mutters a quick ‘hello’ to nobody in particular.

“Oh, wow! What happened, man? Something crawled up your ass and died?” Tsucchi jokes with a grin on his face and affectionately pats Hayato’s shoulder.

Hayato glares up at his taller friend and growls, “Fucking Odagiri happened.”

Take, who was about to take a sip from his glass, stops with the glass mid-way to his mouth.

“Huh?” Tsucchi eloquently asks, a puzzled look on his face—as far as he knew, Hayato and Ryu were on good terms.

“Hayato and Ryu are not talking to each other,” Take explains and finally takes a sip of his beer.

“Why do you have to make it sound so- so _childish_ , or something?” Hayato grumbles. “ _I’m_ the one not talking to that fucking traitor, not the other way around,” he then mumbles.

“What? I thought you guys were over that. I mean, after Take explained everything to us we understood why Ryu did it,” Tsucchi interjects in confusion.

“Why he did it? What are you talking about, man? I haven’t told anything about it to Take yet,” Hayato asks, equally confused.

Take is about to butt in and explain everything to both of them when Tsucchi asks, “What are _you_ talking about? I’m talking about Ara High and stuff.”

Hayato is thrown for a moment. If possible, he’s even more bewildered than before.

“Wait? What? I’m talking about Odagiri fucking calling Sawatari on me when I was trying to protect my student- when I _specifically_ asked him not to do _exactly_ that.” His eyebrows are furrowed and he’s looking at Tsucchi like the other guy has grown a second head. “What has Ara High got to do with this? I mean, sure I see the pattern there but-” Hayato says and then stops when he seems to remember Tsucchi’s words. “You ‘understood why he did it’?”

Tsucchi turns to Take all shocked and gapes at him in disbelief. “YOU DIDN’T TELL HIM?!”

“Hey! I tried to, okay?!” Take defends himself. His hands are up with his palms facing outwards in surrender; his voice is a little panicky, louder and higher than before. “I just- I couldn’t do it on the phone,” he continues and looks down, “and last time we were all so happy I just didn’t want to ruin the moment, it didn’t seem right.”

“What the hell are you two talking about? What is it you have to tell me, Take?” Hayato inquires, a little cranky because he hates feeling left out, but he hates it much more when it’s something related to Odagiri—though he wouldn’t admit that to anybody, not even Take.

Take closes his eyes and gulps. Then he looks up. Hayato is looking at him searchingly, an angry frown on his face.

“Uhm, well, when Ryu bowed down to Ara back in high school it wasn’t because he was a coward,” Take begins while he nervously fiddles with the glass’s handle.

Hayato snorts. “Like hell he wasn’t.”

“No, he _wasn’t_ ,” Take presses with a firm voice. “He did it because I asked him to.”

“What are you talking about?” Hayato asks for what seems to be the hundredth time that night, but his voice is calm, disinterested, sort of trying to hide the fact he’s dying to know the answer. Tsucchi is just watching them both with a serious face, unperturbed.

Take raises his head and looks Hayato in the eye. He feels he owes the other one at least that.

“ _I_ asked him to do it. I was scared. I was scared because I wasn’t good at fighting like you guys, and I was also scared of being expelled- of all of us being expelled,” Take exasperatedly says, trying to get it all out in a breath because this is Hayato and this is the only person he has always wanted to say this to but somehow never got the chance or the balls to do it and now the time has come so he can’t fuck it up. He just can’t. “I just wanted my mama to be proud of me and my friends- I wanted to graduate with _all_ my friends, and so I begged Ryu and he- he went and forfeited. Because of _me_.”

Hayato’s looking at Take with wide eyes and pressed lips. After a moment, he looks down and combs his hair back with the fingers of his right hand while he lets out a mirthless chuckle. When he looks back up his eyes settle on Tsucchi.

“Did you-” he says hoarsely, so he clears his throat, gulps, and starts again, “did you know about this?”

“No, as I said before, we—Hyuuga and I—we found out a few months ago,” Tsucchi explains. He looks apologetic, as if he were to blame for something.

“I’m sorry, Hayato. I wanted to tell you before, but Ryu made me promise not to.”

Hayato lets out a hollow laugh and glares at Take.

“Oh, I bet you did. Asshole.”

“What?” both Take and Tsucchi ask at the same time, unbelieving.

Hayato suddenly gets up. His chair clatters and almost tumbles back but he grabs it just in time and moves it to the side. Then he fishes his wallet out of the right back pocket of his jeans, but then he seems to remember he didn’t even get to order anything and hastily puts it back in his pocket.

“Enjoy your meal,” he spits out as he rushes out of the izakaya.

“Yabuki!” Tsucchi quickly gets up in anger and makes to follow him, but Take grabs his arm in a tight grip.

“Let him be,” the shorter man commands. Tsucchi turns to look at him in confusion—because that _fucker_ just called Take an _asshole_ —but then he takes in Take's firm but pleading gaze and sits down again.

“Why- And he called you 'asshole'! I'm gonna rip him apart next time. I'm gonna bash his face in,” Tsucchi starts and his hands angrily fist over the table. “I thought he’d be happy to- I mean, he and Ryu- I thought-” And he's still so angry but also so confused he cannot finish even one sentence.

“I know,” Take tiredly mutters as he rubs the sides of his face with both palms and nods understandingly. “I know.”

He sounds defeated.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a mostly flashback update, sorry for that. Though you should already know by now that I love writing chibi HayaRyuu+Take. I promise the next chapter will have more present-day ~~drama~~ scenes.

Take doesn’t take it to heart as, deep down, he’d known Hayato would react that way.

Hayato had always been weird when it came to the three of them and the—sometimes complicated—bonds that connected them, and this time, obviously, wasn’t going to be an exception.

Still, not telling him would’ve been worse. Not telling him would’ve meant Hayato never knowing, because Ryu would’ve never spoken up in a million years. Not telling him would’ve meant having Ara High hovering over their heads for all eternity, even if Hayato and Ryu managed to patch things up after whatever happened between them this time.

Take doesn’t really wish for Hayato to have never found out, even if it meant avoiding all this. He just wishes they could skip all the in-between brooding and drama and fighting and go straight to inviting the other two over to play a few PES matches.

 _Adulting sucks_ , Take thinks, and then bites off half of his custard dorayaki.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Her name is Izumi. She's got beautiful almond-shaped eyes, long and silky black hair and a pair of killer dimples that only come out when she smiles.

Take's so into her he gets distracted in class too often and his classmates laugh at him every time the teacher calls him on it. Izumi laughs along with them, completely unaware Take's absentmindedness is all her doing.

He really doesn't know what to do about it. He's never confessed to anybody, let alone even _dated_. He considers writing a love letter to her, but he's afraid she'll think he's too much of a wimp. He then considers buying her flowers or a plushie, but he's not sure which one she'd prefer, or if she even likes any of those things.

He truly doesn't know what to do about it, so he resolves to ask somebody else.

It's not like Ryu's got more experience with girls than him, but Ryu's a good listener and a level-headed boy and Take frankly doesn't have anybody else.

Because telling Hayato is out of the question.

Hayato would probably laugh carefreely and tell Take to man up and go tell her he likes her with a flower bouquet in hand in the middle of the classroom or something really gutsy and stupid like that—like Hayato. He cannot go to Hayato because the boy can't see past his nose and won't understand why Take can't _just do it_.

So Ryu it is.

It takes him a few days of indecision and starting the conversation but never really asking Ryu about it—gaining quite a few raised left-eyebrows from the other—but one day he finally goes to his smarter friend and spills everything out.

“You like Izumi?” The other boy asks with a confused frown and Take hurries to shush him with one fumbling tiny hand.

“Don't be so loud!” Take says, and he manages to sound both like he's whispering and shouting at the same time. The look Ryu gives him from behind Take’s own hand and the black fringe of hair surrounding his face is a little amused and unimpressed, like Take implying Ryu could be loud was both outrageous and absurd. “Yes, I like her, okay? But I don't know what to do about it. Any tips?”

“You're asking _me_?” Ryu feels the need to check and his disbelief is present in his tone as well as all over his face. “I'm sorry to break it to you, Take, but I don't... have much experience with girls, in case you haven't noticed.”

“I know, you smarty-pants, I know. But you're my only option,” Take pleads and tries to use his puppy eyes on the boy, the same puppy eyes that always work on his mother and his older sister.

Ryu seems to be immune to them, though, and he just frowns.

“What about...?” He starts asking, but he must've sensed something or seen something on Take's desperate face, because his voice dies down as he nods his head in understanding.

So both of them are on the same page now. Great.

“Flowers are out of the question, as you're not his fifty-year-old, cheating, salaryman husband,” Ryu starts after a few seconds. His hands are sitting comfortably in his front pockets and he's staring up at the classroom’s ceiling in deep thought. “A love letter will only work if she likes you back. Otherwise she'll think you're a creep. Or a corny wimp. Or both.”

Take lets out a sigh of relief and bumps his forehead against his arms, which are crossed over Ryu's bench. He knew Ryu was the best option. He just _knew_ it.

“What do you suggest, then?” Take asks the other boy, and he cannot help but let out some of his admiration out. Ryu may not have any experience with girls, but he's observant. He's awkward when it comes to social interactions, but it's _because_ he rarely takes part in such situations that he can usually read people and atmospheres much better than Hayato or even Take can. “Because you know I'm not the kind to go and confess in the middle of the classroom or something.”

“God, no, that'd be so Hayato-like,” Ryu snorts and his eyes crinkle in mirth. “No, I think you should leave some snack or chocolates on her desk. Maybe with a note so she knows who they are from. If she likes you back, she'll let you know somehow. If she doesn't, you didn't embarrass yourself in front of everybody for nothing.”

“You can never go wrong with food, ne?” Take says and softly bumps his fist against Ryu's shoulder. Take would rather thank him loudly and hug him to no end, but he knows Ryu would be embarrassed if he did so, so he just bumps his fist against the other's shoulder and hopes that's enough to convey just how grateful he is for having Ryu as a friend.

“Nah, you can't,” Ryu agrees with a nod and a small smile—and then yawns.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Just because Take now knows what approach he should follow doesn’t mean it gets easier. He has to decide _what_ to buy, which leads to more impromptu and secret meetings with Ryu in their classroom, the corridors or even by the school gates once.

Hayato starts suspecting there’s something going on between his two friends almost instantly and Ryu’s silence and Take’s excuses whenever he catches them in the middle of a not-so-secret conversation seem to be making Hayato’s suspicions grow. Take swears that boy can _smell_ it when there’s something going on with either Ryu or himself.

Still, telling Hayato is not an option, so he resorts to holding their meetings in possibly _unorthodox_ places.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

“Okay, what about Choco Baby?” Take asks and were he a little bit nerdier he’d be taking actual notes in a notepad. Ryu snickers at the mental image.

“I think you’d come across as a cheap bastard,” Ryu deadpans and goes for the tap.

“Ouch, that hurt, Odagiri,” Take says and mockingly grabs his uniform jacket over his heart. “Everyone loves Choco Baby, that’s why I suggested that. What do _you_ suggest then?”

“I mean, if you _must_ give her Choco Baby, you can always buy—I don’t know—a whole box of it? But giving her a single Choco Baby package seems a little cheap to me. Like, if I were her, I’d wonder how much she even means to you, you know?” Ryu asks Take with a tiny smirk, and proceeds to wash his hands.

Take returns the mocking smirk but then he looks up in thought.

“Buying a whole box would be so creepy, though,” he muses out loud.

“You know what’s creepy?” Ryu asks as he turns towards him and carelessly dries the palms of his hands against his school pants. “Following your friends to the restroom. That’s the creepiest,” he finishes with a dead-serious voice and accompanying expressionless face while he resumes his—by now trademark— careless stance of hands in pockets.

Take dumbfoundedly stares at him for a whole second, pondering on whether Ryu was actually joking or not. When he notices the corners of Ryu’s mouth quivering just the slightest bit, he explodes.

“Hey! You little-” He starts, but then a loud noise startles the both of them.

The door to the second to last stall opens with a bang and a nonchalant Hayato comes waltzing out of it. Ryu and Take quietly stare at him as he calmly strolls to the sinks and starts washing his hands. Cool as cucumber.

A surprisingly cool Hayato is never a good sign. Ever.

Take sends a panicked look to Ryu, as if asking him what to do or say, but Ryu stares back at him blankly and simply shrugs as if saying _‘why are you asking_ me _?’_.

That fucker.

“I personally don’t like Choco Baby that much, ya know, but it’s not a bad choice either,” Hayato says to the sink where his hands seem to be brutally wrestling against each other amidst water and soap to apparently see which one gets cleaner first. “Not that you asked _me_ about it, though.”

Take sucks in a shaky breath and waits.

“So, this is why you’ve been avoiding me? You’ve been hiding in the restroom to have secret meetings or something?”

Ah, there it is.

“We haven’t been avoiding-” Take starts, but Hayato steps back from the sink and cuts him off.

“Oh, come on! Even _I’m_ not that dumb,” Hayato explodes as he turns to face the two boys, tiny droplets of water flying off from Hayato’s still wet hands and hitting both Ryu and Take in the face and all over their chests, much like Hayato’s anger. Take sends a quick glance to the side to check on Ryu, but the other boy just stays silent, not joking about Hayato’s wit—or his lack thereof—the way he’d do under normal circumstances.

Take sighs in relief.

Their shared glance doesn’t go by unnoticed by Hayato, though, quite on the contrary, it just seems to fuel him further. He glances from Take to Ryu and back, and then laughs bitterly while he slowly takes a few steps towards them— _like a predator getting near its prey_ , Take aptly thinks, and wonders whether this is what Take’s bullies felt when Hayato confronted them. Whether they also felt a tingling down their spine when they realized the other boy wouldn’t stop before he ripped them apart.

“So what? Am I okay for beating bullies up but not good enough for some girl talk?” Hayato asks the both of them with his eyebrows up in defiance. Daring them to tell him otherwise. “You clearly don’t need me anymore now that Yamada doesn’t bother you, so you decided to ditch me, huh?”

Take reels, Ryu just rolls his eyes and snorts. “Don’t be stupid, Yabuki.”

“Don’t call me stupid, you _rich brat_ ,” Hayato snarls immediately after and he says it so venomously, it actually sounds like an insult this time, whereas in the past it used to sound like friendly mocking.

Take winces at the hit, even if it wasn’t meant for him, and takes his eyes off Hayato’s furious face to stare at Ryu, looking for any sign of anger. Not so deep down, he’s afraid his two friends will start a fistfight in the restroom and he’ll have to come in between them—maybe even pick a side and make matters worse.

However, when he takes a look at Ryu’s face, the other boy is impassible—the only sign that Hayato’s words have reached him are his balled-up fists.

Take’s never been more grateful than right now for Ryu’s self-control.

After a long silence that feels never-ending, Ryu scoffs. “Whatever,” he mutters and quietly leaves the room, cutting the until then growing tension in the room.

Everything seems to deflate after Ryu leaves. Take dumbfoundedly stares after him, even after the door has closed with a soft but loud thud after him, but then a loud ‘TCH’ takes him back to his other friend.

Hayato’s nostrils are flaring and his breathing is agitated now and Take has no doubts that Hayato had been in for the kill then. He had been waiting— _expecting_ —for Ryu to lose it. To hit Hayato. So he’d have had an excuse to hit the shorter boy too. To take it all on him—on them.

Yet, this outcome is even worse, if possible.

“Whatever,” Hayato mutters after Ryu, spitefully continuing with a conversation that’s long done, and walks past Take, not even sparing him a glance.

When he leaves, the door closes with a loud bang that makes Take flinch.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Take finally decides to get a box of Kinoko no yama and ask Izumi out. She rejects him, but she’s so sweet about it Take can’t even blame her. Of course, it’s still a bummer, because he really _really_ does like her, but still, even if he didn’t succeed, he feels proud of himself for going through with it.

Afterwards, he gets back to his seat with a defeated but somewhat satisfied look on his face and Ryu pats him on the back. Take knows Ryu will never say it to Take’s face, but he knows the other boy is proud of him as well.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Hayato holds his grudge against both of them for weeks.

He spends his breaks and lunch times alone and lashes out to anybody who will simply even dare to hint at the obvious gap between him and the other two boys who used to follow him wherever he went.

He quickly becomes this easily irritable antisocial kid—an emotional timebomb waiting to explode any second if somebody just dares tick him the wrong way.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

“I’m not going to ask for forgiveness when I did nothing wrong. Lay off, Take,” Ryu says, a little annoyed, and sits down.

Take sighs exasperatedly. “I’m _not_ saying we should go _ask_ for his forgiveness, I’m just saying we should go explain the situation,” he explains as he too sits down backwards on his own chair to be able to face Ryu and starts fiddling with the single pencil and two pens inside Ryu’s fiery red case.

“Sure, and Hayato will patiently listen to us, give us a warm hug and invite us over for tea and snacks over a PES match,” Ryu sarcastically counters with a straight face that has Take looking down embarrassedly and sheepishly scratching the back of his head, now self-aware of his naivety.

When the shorter looks up again, though, he notices Ryu has averted his gaze to the corridor, where Take finds Hayato’s seemingly hanging out by himself—or more like pathetically brooding, if Ryu may say so.

“I just wish for once he’d be the one to…” Ryu mumbles and Take perks up, waiting, but when he turns to look at Ryu, the boy sniffs disinterestedly and faces the front of the class, his trademark blank stare in place. “Never mind.”

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

It takes a week for Yamada and his minions to notice the newly found distance between Hayato and the other two boys.

It takes them three weeks to find Hayato alone though.

“Well, if it isn’t hand-me-downs Yabuki,” Nanahara mocks Hayato as he lamely crackles his tiny knuckles.

Hayato snorts. _Where does that dickhead Nanahara think he is? A Yakuza movie?_

In the face of a probable outnumbered beating, he starts weighing his options.

He could probably make a run for it. Reach the school, which is only two blocks away, in a few minutes and stay there until they leave. But that’d be too cowardly, and he wouldn’t hear the end of it until they graduate middle school in less than three months.

He could also fight all three of them. Give them some nice bruises and scraps to go with their stupid ugly faces and make them remember his name all the way to high school, hopefully.

“Not such a loudmouth now that you’re alone, eh, Yabuki?”

Really, it’s not that difficult a choice.

“I’m just not in the mood to talk with wimpy pricks, sorry,” Hayato grins and gives them a bendy peace sign.

Yamada’s eyes narrow dangerously.

The first one to hit is Fujita, surprisingly enough. He barges at Hayato with a very poor stance and his fist first, making it really easy for Hayato to dodge the punch and slug him in the stomach instead.

Next comes Nanahara, whose pretty decent right hook will probably leave Hayato’s ear ringing for days.

Yamada, the fucker, arrives last. With his private karate tutor moves and his disdainful smirk.

Not even once does the thought that he should’ve gone for option one cross Hayato’s mind. Not even when a knee rams against his stomach with such force that it makes him dry heave slightly. Not even when Nanahara and Fujita manage to team up and grab him by both arms to let Yamada’s fists get acquainted with Hayato’s face. And, least of all, when he has to hunch over in pain after one too many punches, waiting, expecting the other three to either have tired of beating him up or keep on with the fun.

Option one was for cowards; option two had always been the only way to go.

“Are you enjoying this yet?” Hayato hears Yamada ask him scornfully, and Hayato sighs to the ground, his head hanging low and his longish hair fanning over his face.

_So the fun’s not over yet._

“I said…” Yamada starts, his voice low and menacing. “Are you… enjoying…” he continues, punctuating each of his words like the bad guy of a very lame action movie. His voice gets nearer and nearer Hayato with each step, foreboding another blow to Hayato’s face. “… this yet, ass-”

Hayato raises his head in surprise just as Yamada’s butt collides with the ground.

“Did _you_ enjoy that one, Yamada?” Ryu beside him asks, unenthusiastically as ever, his now red right fist resting against his side. Hayato looks up, amazed, but the only acknowledgment he receives is Ryu’s mouth twitching slightly. Hayato snorts, and a very distorted grin blooms on his battered face.

The moment is over, though, when Take suddenly yells behind them a furious _Leave our friend alone!_ and then there’s a quick movement to their right and his short friend is barreling against Fujita’s middle like a very angry and very tiny human cannonball.

This time the scuffle doesn’t last that long.

Even if Hayato had been outnumbered at first, he was still Hayato, and he had given as good as he had got for as long as he could during the first round. His friends showing up for the second round gives him a newfound strength that has Yamada and the other two groaning in irritation first and then in admitted defeat after a few well aimed hits to Yamada’s already limp leg, Nanahara’s bruised side and Fujita’s wreck of a face.

Hayato sighs in contentment as he watches the three bullies run wherever.

A slightly bruised Ryu and a chirpy Take help him up by his arms and he groans when his right foot hits the floor.

“You okay?” Take asks him concernedly, and Hayato simply nods and lowers his head.

They walk—or more like collectively limp—in silence in the direction of the nearest train station for a while. The only exchanged sounds being Hayato’s painful groans and Ryu and Take’s grunts at having to take half his weight each. It’s not a particularly awkward silence, but it’s not a comfortable one either—like the ones they used to share not so long ago.

Hayato really wants to say something to make it better, maybe thank them, and then, at the same time, he wants to save his pride, shut up and wait for both Ryu and Take to apologize to him because they were wrong and they shut him out and that fucking hurt, okay?

He’d never admit that to his friends, though. Because admitting he was hurt would be admitting defeat somehow. He doesn’t know _how_ exactly but, in some way, he knows it would feel like defeat.

It takes him two blocks to finally muster up the courage to think of as nearest to an apology as he can come up with and speak up.

“The Kinoko no yama were a nice touch. Good choice, Take.”

Take twists his head to the side to take a look at Hayato’s face, so he tries not to squirm under his friend’s serious stare (and fails miserably). A moment after, though, Take’s no longer serious and is happily beaming up to him.

“Thank you!” Take replies cheerily. It seems not even the fact that he got rejected in the end can dampen his smile.

Hayato’s face relaxes instantly and creases into a relieved little smile as well.

The silence now feels a lot less oppressive.

A few meters later, Hayato feels Ryu’s hand tightening where it’s settled over a pair of bruised ribs on Hayato’s right side and he suppresses a wince. “You’re not _only_ good at beating up bullies, you dumbass,” Ryu mumbles on his left.

He turns his head to the left and steals a glance at Ryu. The other boy keeps facing forward, ignoring him pointedly. Hayato scoffs and lightly nudges his head sideways against Ryu’s. “Neither are you,” he sheepishly mumbles and turns to face forward too—his smile getting impossibly larger—while Take grins at Hayato’s subtle acknowledgement of his friends’ strength as if it were some kind of important prize.

All three of them pick up the pace after that—as there’s no oppressive or comfortable silence among them anymore.

Once they arrive at Hayato’s, he opens the door wide and merrily invites them over for some PES and azuki dorayaki.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part contains one of my favorite scenes (if not my absolute favorite) in this fic. I'll let you guess which one it is.

Sawatari wouldn’t admit it to anybody _ever_ —because he has an image to keep up—but he admires Yamaguchi-sensei.

It's usually troublesome for him, as her superior, but it's also a little bit inspiring how she'll fight for her precious students no matter what. How she'll believe in them even if nobody else does.

He guesses time has proven her right several times, many of her students turned out pretty well considering how they behaved during their teenage years.

Maybe she just has the gift to really see through people and find the best in them.

Or maybe she's just a fool with a pure heart.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Sawatari is a little afraid of entering a yakuza’s house, but he’s not going to let it get to him.

He went to her house to warn her about the principal’s intentions, to tell her to be careful because, if she keeps on getting herself into dangerous situations for the sake of her students, the principal will eventually fire her.

Then Yankumi looks at him calmly, as if he hadn't just hinted she was going to lose her job pretty soon, and gives him a little smile.

“If a teacher is afraid of being fired, they can't protect their students,” she calmly states.

And those words then become much more significant the next day, when she assumes all responsibility for the fight and resigns from Kurogin so her 3D students can graduate.

That day, Sawatari nostalgically remembers why he decided to become a teacher all those years ago.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

“I think principal Sawatari should have fired him,” Tsuruoka-sensei expresses.

“Yes, I think so too,” somebody else agrees, “this escalated way out of proportion already,” and two more people grunt their agreement too.

They are speaking so loudly their voices can be heard from outside the staff room. So it’s no wonder Ryu can hear what they are talking about even before getting there.

“Yes, Yabuki-sensei shouldn’t have called Miura-kun’s father for a meeting in the first place,” Okada adds. The rest make agreeing sounds.

Ryu halts in his next step and hides behind the door.

“And then he went to the kid’s house and punched the man in the face! How troublesome!” Tsuruoka moans loudly. No wonder Tsuruoka is so resentful towards Hayato, for he’s had his eyes on nurse Ayukawa since before Ryu got there and Hayato has had the almost full attention of all Akadou's female stuff since he first set foot on the school.

“Yes, indeed, very troublesome,” one of them mutters and the rest just grunt their assent.

“I heard Miura-kun’s father is starting legal actions against him,” Yajima-sensei stage-whispers. Of course he wouldn’t mind anyone hearing him, that’s the whole point.

Ryu snorts derisively to himself and decides enough is enough.

“Don’t you think talking about a colleague behind their back is kind of shameful?” Ryu defiantly asks as he enters the staff room. The four men are congregated around Yajima’s desk. When they hear Ryu speak up, they all suddenly look up at him in surprise.

Ryu just stands there, before them. One hand in his pants’ pocket; the other one is holding a binder with a few papers. His face blank, as always, but his eyes are challenging.

Tsuruoka is the first one to react.

“I think punching the father of one of your students in the face inside his own home is shameful, _Odagiri-sensei_ ,” Tsuruoka retorts and there’s a small scornful smirk adorning his face. The rest of the teachers nod and grunt in agreement like a swarm of worker bees sucking it up to their queen.

Ryu raises an eyebrow. “Do you even know what really happened or are you just talking nonsense because-” He begins to say, but Hatoyama interrupts him.

“Of course we know what happened! But what Yabuki-sensei did is unforgivable,” he affirms. “Beating the man! Inside his own home!” he exclaims and then there’s an annoying chorus of ‘it’s _un_ forgivable!’s and ‘ _so_ shameful!’s coming from the others that makes Ryu want to roll his eyes in annoyance. He doesn’t, though.

“If you know what _happened_ ,” Ryu counters in a firm tone—slowly and marking every word, as if what he has to say is so complex they wouldn’t be able to understand him otherwise, “then you know Yabuki-sensei punched Miura-kun’s father because the man was _beating his son to a pulp_.”

“Yes, we are aware of that,” Tsuruoka airily adds and makes a dismissive flourish with his hand. “But Yabuki started it, he called Miura-kun’s father here, provoked him and then went to his house to finish it.”

“And now Miura-kun’s father could sue the school too! Because Yabuki still works here!” Okada-sensei helpfully adds. The four teachers look at one another, nodding, grunting in agreement. They are so full of themselves, they think so high of themselves, Ryu is disgusted.

“So…” Ryu begins and stretches the word a little, “so, you’re telling me,” Ryu gets closer and the volume of his voice lower, “that the school’s reputation is more important than a student’s well-being?” Ryu finally asks. He looks them all in the eye, daring them to say something. “You’re telling me that you’d rather have Miura-kun’s father beating him unconscious instead of Yabuki-sensei going to his aid because it could possibly _taint_ the school’s reputation?” Ryu looks at each of them in the eye challengingly.

Hatoyama, Yajima and Okada stay silent. Tsuruoka, on the other hand, opens his mouth, probably with a comeback on the tip of his tongue, but Ryu cuts him off before he can even start spouting bullshit.

“You call yourselves teachers, yet you couldn’t care less about your students’ lives, you only care about their marks and academic achievements,” Ryu snarls. “Yabuki-sensei may not get the best results in class and his methods may not be conventional, but he truly cares about his students. He’d _fight_ for them, fiercely, passionately,” he chuckles darkly and rolls his eyes. “Hell! He’d put his job on the line for them!”

Now even Tsuruoka looks ashamed, but Ryu’s steam hasn’t run off yet.

“So don’t you _dare_ talk behind his back- don’t you dare say what he did is troublesome, because he’s a better teacher than the lot of you, a _much_ better person, even,” Ryu declares. “And he saved that kid’s life, which is much more than any of you have ever done for any of your students.”

With that, Ryu turns around and leaves. His right fist, no longer inside his pocket, clenching and unclenching. He’s so, _so_ mad. He’s furious. Ten years ago, he would’ve punched them all in the face. He wouldn’t have spared a word in between. Now he has to settle for leaving a group of four grown men dumbfounded and ashamed of themselves, hopefully regretting their actions.

If he weren’t as enraged as he is at the moment, he would probably feel a bit uncomfortable with the similarities between the speech slash lecture he just gave to his colleagues and Yankumi’s heartfelt ones. But the fury within him saves him the embarrassment.

Ryu exits the room and turns right, towards the teachers’ restroom, to freshen himself up a little.

He doesn’t notice the huddled figure on the left behind the door.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

"He's just so retarded!" Nanahara says and laughs evilly as he bites off one of the perfectly rounded tips of his perfectly triangular onigiri.

"And poor! Have you seen his uniform? I bet his mom bought it from a second-hand store," Fujita jeers with his mouth full of rice and onion and beef.

"Nah, I don't think his mother can go and buy anything," Yamada exclaims in that condescending way he usually talks when he knows something the rest don't and wants to show-off his knowledge. He only continues after he gets the other two to look at him questioningly but with utter interest. "His mother is _really sick_."

And the way he emphasizes those two words makes Ryu—who until then hadn't been paying any attention to what Yamada and his goons were talking about while he was having lunch two meters away from them—think he's not precisely talking about a cold.

Ryu feels something inside his stomach drop and then churn uneasily and he suddenly hopes with all his might that Hayato will stay inside and take longer in the restroom than he usually does.

Yamada, Fujita and Nanahara continue unperturbed with their conversation, though. Seemingly not noticing Ryu and Take sitting near them.

"Oh, I didn't know about that," Fujita mutters and lowers his head, staring at his homemade bento.

"Yeah, that's why he always brings shitty konbini food and his clothes are all wrinkled and nobody comes pick him up when he gets into fights," Yamada goes on and leans back on his arms as he closes his eyes.

Ryu's grip on his chopsticks is so strong they are leaving indentations on his short stubby fingers. He can feel Take breathing heavily beside him, ready to shout something at the other but too scared to get beaten up. It's been a few months since Yamada Genji finally stopped bullying Take and started leaving him alone. Ryu helped in great part, but it mainly had to do with Hayato joining their weird little gang of misfits and repeatedly beating the crap out of him. Take is understandably still scared, though.

"His father doesn't give a fuck about him, and his mom's gonna die any day now. He'll practically be an orphan in-" Yamada's monologue is abruptly cut off by Ryu's fist crashing against his left cheek.

"You fucking _take it back_ , Yamada," Ryu growls and he's got the front of Yamada's white shirt bunched up in his left hand while his right fist is in the air, ready to pounce again. Yamada smirks.

"It's the truth, though, his mother is gonna die, and-" Yamada is now cut off by Take who lunges at him from the side and all hell breaks loose.

Fujita and Nanahara finally react and forget about their respective lunches in favor of defending his friend, who is currently being straddled by a furious Ryu and receiving punch after punch to the face to a never-ending mantra of _Take it back!_.

For his part, Take is urging Ryu on enthusiastically as he kicks Yamada's right side—until Fujita charges against him and throws him to the floor in a flurry of lanky teenage legs and arms.

Nanahara, the last one to react, suddenly stands up while still munching on the last bite of his onigiri and goes over to insistently try to get Ryu off Yamada.

But Ryu's _unstoppable_. He's so fucking angry and _hurt_ and he wants Yamada to hurt just as much.

Because nobody's got the right to talk about his friends—about _Hayato—_ like that. Hayato's _not_ retarded, and so what if his clothes are all wrinkled? He's an awesome friend and an even more awesome son _and_ brother and Yamada here is talking about Hayato's mom as if he knows her. As if he knows anything about the softness of her hands, and the gorgeous glint of her gentle smile and the seemingly healing power of her warm hugs.

Yamada doesn't know shit about anything and Ryu's gonna shut him up and make him take every word back one punch at a time.

"Lay your fucking hands off Ryu, YOU MORON!" Ryu hears Hayato roar from across the yard and, two seconds after that, Hayato's beside them and is throwing himself over Nanahara to start beating him up.

The brawl only lasts for a few more minutes, until somebody tells a teacher and all six of them are separated by various teachers.

When fifteen minutes later all of them are seated in the principal's office and are asked why they had been fighting, Hayato replies with a nonchalant "they were beating my friends up. Of course I'd fight back".

Ryu stays silent, and so does Yamada. The rest follow suit.

The principal finally grows tired of asking questions and getting no answers from the sullen group of boys, so he resolves to start calling their parents to come pick them up. Ryu's so angry still—hands and teeth clenching and unclenching even as minutes go by—he doesn't even care about his uniform and what his parents may say about it being anything but perfect when he arrives home with the housekeeper, probably.

Sometime later, Hayato, Ryu and Take are waiting for their parents outside the principal's office. Fujita, Nanahara and Yamada are waiting for their own parents in some other place. The principal didn't want to take any chances.

"Why were you fighting, though?" Hayato asks them in a low, secretive voice, hoping no adult will pass by and hear them.

"Nothing," Ryu mumbles and feels Take fidget beside him.

"Were they bullying Take again?" Hayato insists with a concerned frown.

"Yes," Ryu answers quickly just as Take lets out a loud “No!”.

"What the fuck?" Hayato angrily whispers and stares at both his friends one at a time. "Who of you is lying? And- why are you even lying?!"

Take and Ryu stay silent. Hayato grows impatient.

"It's-" Take starts and Ryu cuts him off with a warning glare and an exclamation of “Take!”.

"I freaking stood up for you, dammit!" Hayato is now agitated and his hands are fisted over his thighs. "Will you at least tell me what we were fighting for?"

"They-" Take tries again and Ryu grabs his wrist this time. "No, Ryu! He's right! He was fighting for us, so he deserves to know," he exclaims as he frees his wrist from Ryu's grip.

Ryu just throws his head back and bumps it against the wall as he closes his eyes with a frown. He was hoping Hayato wouldn't get to know just how much Yamada knows about him, and his dad, _and his mom_. He was hoping he wouldn't get to hear all those hurtful things that asshole was spewing. But no such luck.

"They were saying mean things about you," Take starts again, and Ryu doesn’t fight him anymore. Take’s right. Hayato’s been the first to stand up for them with no questions asked since they met him at the playground all those months ago. He at least deserves an explanation.

"Mean things?" Hayato asks a little confused.

"Yeah, they were saying you were dumb and poor and then- then they-" and Take stops to send a short glance in Ryu's direction. Ryu feels Take's gaze on him, but he is still looking up, his head thrown back. He’s not gonna happily watch Hayato get hurt. "Then Ryu snapped."

Ryu straightens up in a beat and stares dumbfounded at Take now. And Take nods at him imperceptibly.

Hayato is too busy laughing his ass off to notice, though.

"You were pissed off because of that?" he asks incredulously. "I mean, yeah, I would've beaten them up too for less, but you were acting like a _savage_ , Ryu."

"They were talking shit about you," Ryu turns to look at him with an impassive face and shrugs. "Only _I_ can call you dumb and poor." He deadpans and Take cracks up.

"Oi! Odagiri! You- you rich little shit!" Hayato cries out and mock-punches him on the shoulder while he keeps on muttering nonsensical insults under his breath.

Ryu's lips slowly curl up into a tiny little smile that not even his father's angry bellowing at Ryu participating in yet _another_ fight and the resulting ruined uniform can wipe off his face.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Ryu is about to press the button of the hand dryer with his elbow when the door to the male teachers’ restroom is harshly opened and a fuming Hayato storms in. “What the _hell_ was that?”

“What are you talking about?” Ryu nonchalantly asks him as he turns his back on the other man and presses the dryer’s button to start drying his hands.

“I’m talking-” Hayato starts but the noise of the dryer drowns his words. “I’M TALKING ABOUT YOUR LITTLE SPEECH IN THE TEACHER'S LOUNGE,” he yells. “THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT.”

Ryu’s shoulders stiffen. He can feel Hayato’s glare on the back of his head and the little hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

“What about it?” Ryu mutters after a moment.

“WHAT?”

Ryu tilts his head a little to the side and clears his voice, “I SAID ‘WHAT ABOUT IT?’”

“WHAT THE FUCK, ODAGIRI? WHY DID YOU-” Hayato says but then the dryer stops and his loud voice echoes on the bathroom’s tiled walls, making both of them wince. “Why did you do that?” He repeats in a normal conversational volume.

Ryu stays silent, still with his back to Hayato.

“Why did you defend me in front of those jerks?” Hayato continues in a low voice, and Ryu doesn’t know whether his tone is curious or just looking for trouble.

“Why do you think? They were talking shit about you, so I-”

“They were talking shit about me?” Hayato interrupts him—his voice a few octaves higher, almost incredulous—and lets out a sardonic laugh. “What the fuck do you care what they say about me? It’s not like- I mean, we’re just colleagues,” he scornfully adds.

Ryu stills for a moment.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he mutters after some time. He rubs his palms against his thighs and turns around. “I guess I’ll be going then,” he adds as an afterthought, without even glancing at the other.

Ryu starts walking towards the door but Hayato is faster and is standing closer to it, so the taller man extends his right hand and slams it forcefully closed with a loud ‘BAM’. Ryu’s eyes are drawn to Hayato’s hand pressing against the door, where he notices after a few seconds of staring that Hayato’s knuckles still haven’t healed; they are all raw, with the skin peeled.

He forces himself to tear his eyes away from Hayato's still healing hand and face the other. “What’s your problem, Yabuki?" he angrily asks and feels his cheeks starting to fluster in indignation. _Seriously, is there no way to win with this guy?_

“YOU! _You_ are my problem! I don’t understand you!” Hayato dramatically exclaims as he retrieves his hand from the door to vigorously jab his forefinger on Ryu’s right shoulder. Hayato’s eyes are shining with fury and his breathing is a tad agitated—the complete opposite of Ryu, who becomes still and motionless after Hayato’s ourburst. “You act so friendly after we meet, as if nothing happened, and then, at the first chance you get, you go behind my back when I _specifically-_ ARGH! I fucking _told_ you not to interfere! Fuck!” Hayato desperately sinks both his hands into his hair and throws his head back in frustration. Ryu hears him swallow audibly and his Adam’s apple bobs up and down with the motion. “And- and then you go and stand up for me against those assholes as if- as if you were _proud_ of me- of what I did!” He adds with a bitter chuckle. “You’re so fucking confusing.”

Ryu wants to chuckle. From Hayato’s point of view, Ryu supposes he is. “I _am_ proud of you,” he mutters after a beat and Hayato’s head makes an abrupt jerk in Ryu’s direction. “Just because I wanted to protect you it doesn’t mean I think what you did is wrong.”

“HA?! You wanted to _protect_ me?” Hayato cynically asks. “Is that what you tell yourself to make you feel better about what you did?” Ryu is about to retort something but Hayato goes on. “Is that what you think you were doing when you bowed down to Ara High?”

Ryu gasps inaudibly, eyes wide, and feels his heart skip a beat. _This is it_ , Ryu thinks. _Hayato knows, this is it_.

“Oh, yeah, I heard all about it,” Hayato drawls with a disdainful smirk. “Poor little Odagiri sacrificed himself and went to forfeit the fight because his best friend ever Take asked him to.” His lips twitch and the smirk on his face becomes even more mocking. His eyes have a malicious glint to them Ryu hadn’t seen in a long while. Not since high school.

Ryu is out of words. He can only stare at the other with wide eyes and trembling hands, his heart beating madly against his chest. What’s he supposed to say now? So many years spent equally dreading and looking forward to this moment, coming up with a variety of late-night hypothetical scenarios in his mind where Hayato would get mad and punch him or tell him to fuck off—or forgive him and leave everything in the past, if Ryu was feeling particularly hopeful that night.

Yet now- now he cannot even explain himself.

Hayato, once again, beats him to it. “What? Did you think I’d thank you for doing that? Just because you did it so we would graduate?”

And _that_ —the casually spouted unfairness of it all—snaps him out of it.

“Well, we _did_ graduate, _didn’t we_?” Ryu spits out with such contained anger that Hayato’s face freezes. “We fucking graduated _because_ I forfeited the fight, so I’m not going to be all apologetic and regretful about that. And I’m not sorry about telling Sawatari about Miura-san, either. Or about standing up for you against Tsuruoka and the others. I’m not sorry about doing anything of what I did. I’m not sorry about- about protecting what’s important to me.” Ryu’s voice falters on that last part and he averts his gaze. Then he lets out a heavy sigh and turns to look at a still frozen Hayato once again with a resolute expression. “So if that’s what you’re looking for here- if that’s what _this_ is- well, it’s not gonna happen, Hayato.”

Ryu stares at Hayato with determination. Waiting. Hayato averts his gaze.

“Things could’ve been different. You could’ve told me and we would’ve worked it out- I would’ve _listened_ to you,” Hayato mutters after what seems like an eternity. His words could’ve been apologetic or conciliatory, but his tone is reproachful and Ryu doesn’t know whether Hayato is talking about then or now—or _both_. “But now- now’s too late. I don’t know if I can forgive you.”

 _I didn’t ask you for forgiveness_ , Ryu wants to retort.

Instead he asks, “Are you for real?” and then he chuckles incredulously while he rolls his eyes. “Is _this_ ‘listening to me’? Is this ‘working it out’? You don’t listen to anything anyone has to say. Ever. That’s why I had to go behind your back. Twice. That’s why I couldn’t explain myself afterwards. You just- fuck! Talking is _not_ an option when it comes to _you_.” Ryu stops with his finger pointing at Hayato still in the air and lets out a defeated sigh while he runs his hand over his face. “From where I’m standing, I was right all along, and you just proved it to me.”

A few seconds go by when Hayato seems to be looking for words. There’s muffled chattering coming from the other side of the door; lunchtime is over. Hayato is about to open his mouth to say something when Ryu beats him to it. “I’m leaving,” Ryu says and yanks the door open. It closes with a soft thud.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Hayato only notices Odagiri broodingly sitting in the principal's office because he slipped from class to go to the restroom and ended up wandering around the school in hopes of avoiding the last part of the boring History lesson he had been enduring until some minutes before.

He shrugs it off and pays it no mind, making for the hall but, when he walks past the teacher's lounge a few meters away from there, he comes to an abrupt halt.

"He beat 3A's Ueda-kun up to a bloody pulp. He wouldn't stop until Ueda's classmates managed to separate them. I think he broke Ueda's nose. Poor kid was rushed to hospital," Somebody stage whispers. Hayato thinks it's Kameyama-sensei.

"Oh, is that so!" That's definitely Shiratori-sensei. "But why? Why did Odagiri punch Ueda? That's not like him… To snap so suddenly."

Hayato silently snorts.

"I heard one of Ueda's classmates say he was badmouthing Yabuki," another voice adds, and Hayato is too focused on this new piece of information to pinpoint who’s talking. "Ueda apparently said something about Yabuki being a good for nothing and that he'd be glad if Yabuki was expelled. And Odagiri—who was just passing by—overheard him and just lost it."

"Yabuki? But aren't Yabuki and Odagiri sworn enemies?" Shiratori-sensei wonders aloud in that cutesy voice of hers.

"Hm, that's what I thought too…" Kameyama-sensei muses.

"I don't know, that's what Ueda's classmates were talking about," the source replies. "They were friends once, right? Maybe Odagiri's loyalty runs deep."

Shiratori and Kameyama hum in agreement and then they somehow change topics and start talking about a kid in 1A whose test results apparently indicate he'll be fit for Todai in two years' time.

Hayato stands outside the lounge for a while, listening to them blabber about elite universities and college fees but all he can do is go round and round in circles inside his head and in the end the only thing his mind comes up with is a never-ending loop of _what the fuck, Odagiri?_

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

They bump into each other at Kou’s of all places.

Hayato’s sitting at the tiny table by the kitchen Hyuuga and Tsucchi like to call “the sad drunkard table”, an array of empty green bottles sitting around him, like those tiny Buddha statues surrounding a bigger Buddha you can find in some temples.

 _How apt_ , Take snorts.

For a split second, Take considers ignoring Hayato. Simply going to the restroom and pretending he never saw the man currently talking to one half-full bottle.

Then he decides it’s time to face the music.

“Fancy seeing you here.”

When instead of the confused and maybe unfocused stare Take was expecting to receive, Hayato scoffs without even looking up, Take confirms the choice of place _was_ intentional and maybe Hayato’s not as drunk as Take first thought he was.

“Wish I could say the same,” Hayato mutters as a greeting and gulps down all the content in his glass.

Take sighs. He wasn’t necessarily expecting this to be easy, but still.

“Always so delightful,” Take mutters, and sits down in the vacant spot in front of Hayato. No invitation needed.

“What? Were you really expecting me to receive you with open arms and a smile after what you did?” Hayato asks as he finally looks up at Take and stares at him in irritated disbelief.

“Do you always have to be so dramatic or is it only when it comes to me and Ryu?” Take genuinely wonders and Hayato scoffs loudly.

“Do you go behind everyone’s backs with that backstabbing asshole or is it only when it comes to me?”

Take’s resulting giggles only seem to make Hayato angrier.

“You knew about it and you still shut up about it. The both of you were keeping secrets from me for years and never bothered to tell me the truth,” he heatedly spits out. Then he pours himself another glass and slams the now empty bottle’s bottom against the table’s surface with much more force than required, making Jun the waiter look up from taking an order two tables away from them. “So fuck _him_ and fuck _you_.”

“Yeah, yeah, fuck us, sure,” Take mutter dismissively, “but what I really want to know is: are you pissed?” Take asks and then places his elbows on the only available space in the tiny table, slowly leaning forward. “Or are you jealous he put me over you?” He finishes with a little smile and Hayato’s up and in his face in a second, his hands grabbing the shorter guy by the lapels of his jacket.

 _Ah, still so easy to rile up_.

“You’re lucky I’m not punching you right in the fucking face right now,” Hayato spits at the shorter man and his fists tighten over the jacket’s blue fabric.

“Then do it,” Take says and smiles sweetly—challengingly—at Hayato.

The taller man seems to consider it for a split second but then shakes his head. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not that kind of person anymore. I’m better than that,” Hayato curtly answers, letting go of Take’s lapels and then flopping once again on his chair.

“You are,” Take agrees, leisurely leaning back on the chair with solemn expression. Hayato immediately looks up at him from his recently resumed hunching position, surprised. “So start fucking showing it and get over whatever is making you act like an asshole.”

“Shut up,” Hayato grumbles half-heartedly, looking to the side, at nobody in particular, and the corners of Take’s mouth curl up in a small smile.

“I’m _not_ shutting up. I shut up for years and look where that got us,” he counters and shuts Hayato up instead.

They stay in comfortable silence for a while. Hayato pretending to be chill, Take pretending he doesn’t notice Hayato’s mind going on overdrive under his longish brown curls.

After a while, he downs the remaining contents in Hayato’s glass in three long gulps and sends a hand sign that he hopes looks like ‘two more beers” to Jun. “Maybe you should stop blaming Ryu for doing what he did and start thinking about why he had to resort to go behind your back _twice_.”

Hayato huffs petulantly and then bangs his elbows against the table, grabbing desperately at his hair with both hands. “ARGH! I _hate_ it when you go all mister wisecracker on me. I hate it!”

“Well, don’t go thinking I’ve been having fun being the level-minded party in this fucked-up three-way friendship all this time when the other two parties are a stubborn dumbass and a self-destructing masochistic prick, okay?!”

“Shut uuup!” Hayato repeats once again with a whiny little voice that makes Take smile fondly down at the crown of his friend’s head.

“I said I’m not shutting up!” Take chirps just as Jun arrives with two cold bottles. “Now stop brooding and drink up. I’m not done lecturing you yet.”

Hayato bangs his forehead against the table and groans while Jun stares at him with a puzzled face.

Take sighs contentedly. Maybe beer and communication is their new, adult version of dorayaki and PES.


	8. Chapter 8

Things are still tense between the both of them after the episode in the restroom: Hayato still doesn’t talk to Ryu and Ryu—for the first time—doesn’t want to talk to Hayato either.

Unlike last time, though, Ryu is not wallowing in self-pity and commiseration. He’s feeling a little down, yes, but, mostly, he’s still incredibly angry at Hayato. It’s not like he was expecting Hayato to come running to him, forgiving and full of regret for all those lost years after finding out about the real reason for his forfeiting, but he wasn’t expecting this, either. He wasn’t expecting Hayato to resent him to this extent.

Hayato, for his part, is not ignoring Ryu like he used to do after Ryu tattled on him. And he doesn’t snort or make snide comments every time Ryu talks, either. He is not full of rage—he’s not full of anything, apparently. He’s just turned into this silent, thoughtful guy which, in all irony, irritates Ryu to no end. Ryu tries not to flinch every time Hayato glances back at him with a confused frown. Hayato tries not to flinch every time Ryu averts his eyes afterwards.

Hayato and Ryu simply exist separately and don’t collide.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

“I think we should go to the new place near the station. They have highball happy hour until ten and the gyoza are amazing there,” Hatoyama-sensei comments and both Tsuruoka-sensei and Okada-sensei agree with a nod.

Nurse Ayukawa scrunches her face and makes a weird high— _cute?_ Ryu’s mind supplies —sound that makes Hatoyama, Okada and Tsuruoka adoringly stare at her like heart-eyed anime characters. “I don’t like that place. It’s smelly and one of the waiters is a creep. I went twice and he kept looking down my cleavage all night long,” she says with a pout, and all three predating wolves accordingly shake their heads in utter disgust.

“Then we won’t go there, Sakura-chan!” Okada-sensei solemnly exclaims, earning himself some earnest agreeing grunts from the other two teachers. “We wouldn’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

Ryu quickly masks his chuckle as a cough, making Takano-sensei look worriedly at him and ask him if he’s alright. Ryu dismisses her and then shoots Hayato a glance, expecting to find him looking back at him with a knowing smirk. When he finds Hayato blankly staring at nothing in particular, he remembers and goes back to the roll call for his class.

“Okay, so should we go to the same place as always?” Yankumi enthusiastically asks and her ponytails swing like an excited dog’s wagging tail.

“Sure, let’s do that,” nurse Ayukawa agrees with a cute nod and everyone cheers quietly.

“Yabuki-sensei, Odagiri-sensei, are you coming?” Takano-sensei suddenly turns to them and asks, and Tsuruoka rolls his eyes in annoyance. Not good at letting a grudge go, that man.

Hayato snaps out of whatever reverie he was in and focuses on her. Takano-sensei stares at him expectantly, but Hayato stares back at her for a second and then shoots a quick glance in Ryu’s direction before facing her again. “No, thank you, I’ll pass.”

Ryu tries his hardest not to glare at the other, but doubts he actually succeeds.

“What about you, Odagiri?” Yankumi asks him then, and Ryu looks up at her. She’s looking at him with sparkling eyes and a hopeful expression, and Ryu is reminded again of a big fluffy puppy.

Ryu tries to muster up the most apologetical expression and tone he can, but then winces as he watches Yankumi’s face fall when he replies, “I’m sorry, I already have plans tonight.”

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

It’s curry night at the Yabuki household.

He wasn’t going to tell that to his colleagues. Things are complicated after the stuff with Miura-kun’s father. Half of the teachers want him out, while the other half either supports him or doesn’t care about him and what he does at all. Saruwatari’s thoughts and intentions are still a mystery, but he hasn’t been fired yet, so there’s that.

It’s not like they cared he skipped this one, anyway. Well, maybe Yankumi. And Ayukawa-sensei and Takano-sensei. And maybe-

Things are complicated.

And what’s really complicated right now is choosing the right curry type.

Hayato is standing in the middle of the aisle facing the display rack with different spices, one packet of curry in each hand and his face troubled. He is torn between choosing mild or super-hot curry powder because he and his father like it super spicy, but Taku, unlike them, hasn’t lost his taste buds yet and is not a fan of crazily spicy food.

“What are you doing?” Hayato hears a male voice ask on the other side of the rack.

“I was thinking of buying some sake. To celebrate, you know?” a familiar voice replies and Hayato, who until then had been reading the labels of the packets on his hands, freezes and stares right ahead in panic. Wide eyes and hammering heart.

After a second, though, he relaxes a little bit and goes back to pretending he’s actually looking at the curry packages. It’s not like they can see him. And even if they could, he doesn’t have to greet them. He can just nod at them, or even ignore them.

“Are you trying to get me drunk, Odagiri- _sensei_?” the male voice playfully asks with a chuckle and Hayato looks up again with surprise.

“As if I had to get you drunk to get you in the mood,” Odagiri retorts, and the flaming red packet Hayato was holding in his left-hand falls to the floor. Hayato hears them walk away while the merry laughter of Odagiri’s companion rings in his ears.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

“So, do you two have anyone special this year?” Hayato remembers Takano-sensei asking the both of them back in February.

“I- uh, yes, I have,” the Ryu inside his mind replies once and once again, like an echo that eventually morphs into a loop of “I’m sorry, I already have plans tonight”.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me he is _gay_!” is the first thing Take hears when he accepts the call.

“What?” Take asks and stops typing, his short fingers hovering over his laptop's keyboard.

“I ran into him and his _boyfriend_ or something five minutes ago. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” Hayato whines in a loud voice over the noise of a car honking.

“You ran into him?” Take asks, confused, and leans back on his desk chair. He knows who Hayato's talking about, obviously, but he doesn't understand why he's being blamed about any of this.

“Don’t change the subject!” Hayato cries out indignantly. He sounds a little bit agitated, as if he were running or walking at a brisk pace. “You kept _another_ secret from me, you asshole! I can’t believe this!”

“Fuck off! I didn’t keep anything secret, Hayato!” Take exclaims defensively and straightens in his chair. The younger boy sighs as he pinches the bridge of his nose. “What did you want me to do? To suddenly call you and tell you about it?”

“Yes- no- I don’t know! You invited me to dinner to tell me he was going to Canada and sent me e-mails with- and then you fucking _lectured_ me at Kou’s about _trust and communication_ , of all things, you hypocrite!”

“I didn’t know about it until he came back. I didn’t know, okay? Or at least for sure,” He adds as an afterthought. “And even if I _had_ known-”

“You could’ve at least dropped it in conversation, you know? Let me know, or something,” Hayato retorts sullenly. He seems to have stopped walking, but it still sounds like he’s out on the streets going by the not-so-distant _piku piku_ sound of a traffic light and the foreign voices all around him.

Take sighs and slowly closes his eyes for a second. “Look, dude,” Take starts in a low and calming tone, “I couldn’t just suddenly go ‘hey, by the way, Ryu’s gay’ as a passing comment or something. It doesn’t work like that-”

“It _so_ does!”

“It wasn’t _my_ place to tell, Hayato!” Take snaps impatiently. “It’s- it’s not my life to talk about, okay? This is nothing like Canada, this is something personal, something he should tell himself to whoever he wants to tell.” He pauses. “Anyway, you’re not even talking to each other, why do you even _care_?”

Hayato stays silent. Take can’t hear Hayato breathing on the other side because of the background noise, but he knows the other heard him alright.

“You’re not freaking out because you’re homophobic, right?” Take tauntingly asks after some seconds of silence.

“What the- No! I’m-” Hayato sputters and he sounds utterly insulted and hurt about the fact that his childhood friend could think that about him. “And I’m not freaking out! I just- Do Tsucchi and Hyuuga know about this?”

Take is about to reply when he’s cut off by a bitter laugh.

“What am I saying? _Of course_ they know already. I hate always being the last one to know! I mean, it’s- argh!” Take pictures Hayato yanking at his longish hair with frustration. “I don’t care if we are talking to each other or not, Take. I should know these things, you know?”

And Take really knows. Because it’s always been like this.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

If anybody were to describe Take, they'd probably say he's got very boisterous manners but that he's pretty gentle at the same time. He's considerate with his friends and very sensible too.

Those who know him best would also say he's a very patient person.

 _Oh, boy_ , is he patient.

However, his patience is starting to run really, _really_ thin lately; particularly when it comes to Hayato.

It's just a complete wonder how Hayato can worry so much about Ryu but still skillfully and simultaneously pretend he doesn't.

It _is_ a wonder because Take knows Hayato's a shit actor. What with his face live broadcasting everything that's going on inside his head and inside his heart too.

But now, somehow, Hayato's so good at pretending he doesn't care, pretending his anger and pride are more important than anything else, that he's got all 3D, Yankumi _and_ Tsucchi and Hyuuga fooled.

But not Take. Because he may not be the strongest of their group, or the best fighter, and he can't even manage to take on so many blows without falling to the floor in pain, but he's certainly the most perceptive in 3D.

(And there's also the fact that he's the one who knows Hayato—and Ryu—the best and the longest among everyone in their group.)

Take stays silent and endures the insults delivered by all of 3D to Ryu as if they were directed to him; endures seeing his two best-friends fighting, punching each other viciously over something that is _his own fault_ ; he endures Hayato being a brooding mess most of the time (instead of his silly, gleeful self) and his insidious glances towards his— _their_ —former best-friend; he endures Ryu asking him—no, _commanding_ him—not to say anything about the real reason behind his forfeiting to anybody even though Take's sure saying the truth would change _everything_.

In the end, he endures a lot of things, because he's not the strongest or the one with the meanest punch; he mostly can't hold his weight in a fight and needs more saving than he'd like to admit; but before anything, he's loyal. He's loyal to his family, his mom, and he's loyal to his friends. And he'd never betray Ryu when he specifically asked Take to _shut the fuck up, please_ , because Ryu has done so much for him. So _so_ much. He owes him for so much (more than just the forfeiting) that he feels he has no right to betray his trust with this, even if he knows it would make a difference.

Even if he knows it'd be the best for Ryu. He just can't.

However, so much enduring is making Take's patience run _extremely_ thin, and Ryu never said anything about not telling anyone about his leaving the country for Canada.

He chooses Kuma’s because Hayato never has his guard up there. He chooses that day because that’s just how long it takes for him to man up and get this deal over with.

"You know," Take suddenly says in between slurps of ramen and the occasional sip to his water glass. "Ryu's leaving".

Hayato's chopsticks, which were holding a bunch of ramen noodles going quickly in the direction of Hayato's mouth, stop briefly in the air, halfway to their destination.

Hayato looks up from his bowl and furrows his eyebrows.

"Hmm," he nonchalantly grunts in reply, sends him a disinterested glance and looks down again to resume his eating.

"He's leaving for Canada the day after the graduation ceremony," the smaller boy continues, his own ramen completely forgotten. He's just trying to elicit at least a word out of his friend's mouth. "He's going to study there, he said. I don't know when he's coming back."

At that Hayato swallows loudly, hastily puts his chopsticks on top of the bowl and says, "What?". His voice a little high, his eyes wide open.

 _Okay, that's more like it_ , Take thinks.

"The ceremony is tomorrow, Take, _what the fuck_?" And the way Hayato emphasizes the K sound on the last word makes him think he's kinda managing to break the meticulously set façade Hayato's been wearing almost non-stop for the past few months.

Take thinks he shouldn't feel so proud of upsetting his friend. But it also feels so good to see him openly _caring_.

“What. The. Fuck? Why are you telling me this now? How- when did he-” Hayato continues and then abruptly stops. He lowers his head a little bit towards the table and runs his right hand through his hair almost unconsciously and then he sighs through his nose loudly. "How long have you known?" And his hand is still in his hair, his head is still a little bit lowered and his eyes are still wide. The flurry of emotions in them is new, though. Well, not _new_ new, just, a long-time-no-see kind of new.

"He told me two weeks ago," the younger one softly answers and is immediately startled by Hayato's mean chuckle.

"You’ve got to be _fucking_ kidding me," the taller boy furiously exclaims and Kuma, behind Hayato and over at the kitchen, worriedly looks up from whatever he was frying, a concerned frown on his face. It’s just that Hayato never acts like that at Kuma’s. Hayato ar Kuma’s is the most well-behaved kid you’ll ever see. Take smiles nervously at the bleach-haired man and dismisses his worry by smiling tensely and waving a hand noncommittally in front of his face.

When he glances back at Hayato, the boy's looking at him with hurt and resentment. There's a sense of betrayal written all over his face.

"How could you- how could you _hide_ this from me for TWO WEEKS?" Hayato dangerously asks. His eyes still displaying all the emotions he’s been bottling up since what feels like forever. "I mean, don't you know- _you_ of all people should know." He sounds so exasperated and hurt and Take's been trying to endure this one too, like he did with all the other ones before, but he's also fed up and hurt himself.

"I didn't _hide_ it from you! I just- I didn't know when to bring it up and- and- and _of course_ I know, that's why I'm telling you now!" Take defends himself indignantly. And he knows it's not going to help, but he's hurting too, _he_ lost one of his best friends too, so he goes on. "And why do you care, anyway? He's like dead to you, isn't he?" he tauntingly asks and finds a little satisfaction in Hayato's bothered little hitch, and the flash of pain in his eyes when they widen even more.

"I _don't_ care! I don't- I just- He's- AARGH!" Hayato's says and covers his face with both his palms.

A few seconds go by, and then Hayato exhales loudly and lets his hands fall down to the table. When he looks back at Take, there’s a frown on his face, but there’s also this raw sense of confusion, like Hayato’s trying to explain him something he knows Take already is aware of, but he doesn’t understand why Take’s playing fool for some reason.

“I just- I knew he was here, somewhere, and that was ok. But now he's going to the other side of the world. And we still haven't-" Hayato stops and huffs, lowering his gaze to his left hand’s index finger, which is absentmindedly scratching at the fake wood texture of the restaurant’s table.

Take slowly nods and lowers his gaze as well, and slowly starts stirring his noodles. They are getting soggy.

Hayato goes silent for a while after that. Take sees him resume his eating from the corner of his eye, or maybe he’s just continuously stirring up his noodles as well.

Hayato doesn’t really need to explain himself because the worst part of all of this is that Take _knows_. He understands all of it. Each and every part of it. And he can't fix it.

"I know," Take feels the need to quietly say after a while. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," he adds apologetically.

"No worries," Hayato mumbles down at his ramen bowl, as if he hadn't just had a bitchfit about the whole issue two minutes ago. “It's not like I could have done-” He stops and pensively looks the side, to the people walking outside. There's a sad little smile curving Hayato's lips when he continues. "I mean, things are the way they are, right?"

And Take just shakes his head and lets out a short bitter chuckle, because both of them know things could’ve been different.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Hayato never really stops to think why America.

He just wants out. And fast.

Take’s got a little theory going on, though. And after he tells Hayato his _stupid_ little theory, Hayato ignores his e-mails for a month.

He starts to get lonely in America after a while with no one to talk to, though—he’s too brash for the Japanese people he meets there, but too proper for Americans to hang out with—, so he gives in after four weeks.

_i received the flyer in the mail and took the chance. its got nothing to do with canada, okay?_

Take replies to his e-mail an eternity later (probably the time zone difference, Hayato realizes a little too late) with one thumb up and a grinning face, followed by a _Sure, Haya-chan_.

Hayato ignores him for another week just out of spite.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Take sends him an e-mail one day with a link to a video. The subject line is _watch this_.

Hayato doesn’t understand why Take is sending him a video clip of some news channel until he reads the caption and recognizes the figure standing in the middle of the runway.

_HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER BRINGS DOWN DRUG LORD._

“What the fuck?” he says under his breath and chuckles amusedly.

Yankumi is standing in the middle of a runway and is being pointed at with a gun by some guy in a suit. Some other guys are standing behind her—her former students, according to the news anchor—and she’s giving a speech—as always—about second chances and whatnot. The man buys into it after a while and drops the gun. The police arrest him for drug dealing, the red caption says.

It isn’t until later, when the news anchors are talking about Yankumi while the clip plays on loop on screen, that Hayato realizes one of the guys standing behind Yankumi is Odagiri. His hair is shorter and darker, and his suit-clad body is not that of a lanky teenager anymore, but it’s him. It’s definitely him.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

A few months later, Hayato’s plane lands in Japan.

His first day in his home country he spends with his baby brother and his dad. On the second day, he impulsively prints his resume and goes to Akadou. Sawatari surprisingly calls him a few days later and asks him whether he wants to start working next Monday. They must've really needed to cover that position if Sawatari agreed to take _him_ of all people and on such a short notice.

Hayato says yes. He had printed only one copy of the resume anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hayato's still processing some feelings and happenings from previous chapters and here he gets to know some new things to think about. I seriously don't give the guy the time to process anything, do I?


	9. Chapter 9

Ryu meets Kengo at a train station when they bump into each other in a very movie-like fashion during his first week at Akadou. Ryu’s briefcase flies away, opens midair and lands two feet away from him and most of the tests he hasn’t had the opportunity to go over—lest start grading—fall from inside the briefcase and scatter all over the floor.

Kengo just keeps on slipping glances in Ryu’s direction with a stunned look on his face while he and Ryu hurriedly pick up the paper sheets and put them once again inside the briefcase, where they belong.

Ryu mainly curses mentally the whole four minutes it takes them to find all the tests and hopes he doesn’t leave any test behind.

Two days after that incident, they meet again, but this time it’s inside the train. Kengo tries to strike up a conversation with Ryu but the latter just replies with monosyllables and grunts while he clutches his briefcase a little protectively.

The third time they meet at a konbini. _Third time’s the charm_ , Kengo says after they both reach for the same black katsudon bento box at the same time. Kengo asks him out and Ryu accepts because it’s been too long and even self-sufficient, independent Ryu has got bodily needs.

A few weeks into their relationship Kengo relates the events that led to their meeting to an amazed Take and a disinterested Hyuuga and labels them ‘romantic’ and ‘a work of fate’. Ryu wants to snort, but he also kinda wants to get laid that night (because alcohol makes him horny) and Kengo is pretty sensitive about that romantic crap of his. So he stays silent and nods.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

The first time Kengo and Ryu actually meet is during their second year in high school. Kengo is in 2A; Ryu, of course, is in 2D.

“Come onnnn, Mori-chan, we are just asking you to lend it to us,” Yabuki, who has his right arm perched around his shoulders, says against his ear.

The tall guy with a fan, who has been pretty neutral until now, closes in on him to let him know that he won’t be getting away. Kengo feels his knees tremble.

Yabuki and the fan guy have been harassing Kengo for his money for the last ten minutes when a scowling redhead shows up.

“Hayato, Tsucchi, let him go,” he curtly says to the other two. He kinda looks like a very strict, very no non-sense gang leader but, from what Kengo knows, _Yabuki_ is 2D’s leader. So that’s why Kengo is left speechless when both Yabuki _and_ the tall guy let him go with a slight push.

“Mou~ Ryu always spoils our fun!” Yabuki whines as he walks away with the tall guy trailing after him. The redhead is about to trail after Yabuki too, when Kengo speaks up.

“Thank you,” he hurriedly says, his voice rough, making the other halt in his step. When the other boy turns around to look at him Kengo bows deeply.

“You don’t have to thank me,” the redhead mutters, “I was just making sure those two don’t get into trouble,” he explains as he motions with his head towards the other two boys. Then he looks away. He’s about to head after his friends when he notices Kengo is still bowing. “Please. Stop bowing.”

“Odagiri, you spoilsport! Come on! We’re heading to café Rovine!” Yabuki hollers from the school’s entrance and both Kengo and Odagiri Ryu turn to glance in that direction. That Tsucchi guy is ridiculously fanning himself angrily even though it’s the middle of Fall while Yabuki is presumptuously leaning against the gate, both his hands in his pants’ pockets. He’s so cocky Kengo wants to wipe that smirk off his face. However, Kengo is smart too—he knows he’d be sprawled on the floor clutching at his bloody face before he could even _try_ to do that.

There’s a small smirk on Odagiri’s face when he turns and nods at Kengo. “Bye,” Odagiri mumbles and then he walks away, after those two idiots.

Kengo harbors a crush on Ryu until they finally graduate. He silently watches Ryu and Yabuki and their whole gang from the sidelines for two whole years. He watches them curiously from afar and studies them and the day Ryu and Yabuki fall out, he releases a sigh of ridiculous relief.

Because he knows Odagiri is out of his league and it’s not like he’s going to _act_ on his crush; yet, most of all, he knows that, if he had the guts to act on it, he wouldn’t have stood a chance against that Yabuki guy. And he’s not precisely talking about fighting now.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

There was a time when Ryu thought that having a steady income, an enjoyable job and someone to spend his nights with was enough.

Later on, Ryu started thinking that all that _and_ being on good terms with Hayato was enough.

Now, Ryu is starting to think that his past self was a dumbass.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Things are not going smoothly.

Both Hayato and Ryu try to pretend the unspoken truce they had reached at some point is still standing but, the more they interact with each other, the more they clash.

Hayato and Ryu orbit around each other now. When things get rough, they collide, the air between them sizzles and sparks fly everywhere.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

"Good evening."

Ryu's head spins so fast to take a look at the newcomer, he feels nauseous for a moment.

Or maybe the nausea has just a little bit to do with the spinning and a lot to do with the fact he wasn't expecting Hayato to join them at the bar on the one night he _brought Kengo with him_.

Kengo who's now looking at Ryu curiously.

"Hey, man!" Tsucchi exclaims and stands up to slap his humongous hand on Hayato's shoulder blade. Hayato tries to hide the flinch with a stoic face. Ryu snorts under his breath and sends a quick fretful glance in Kengo’s direction.

"I didn't think you'd come," Take exclaims happily as he stands up too. His grin is so bright he could light up Cosmo Clock _and_ the whole Yokohama bay with it. "Sit, sit!" he commands as he grabs a chair from another table and places it between Ryu and Tsucchi.

Ryu glares intensely at Take but the shorter man outrageously ignores him with practiced ease.

He can still feel Kengo’s curious eyes on him, piercing as daggers, but Ryu just turns to his boyfriend and gives him a tense small smile back he hopes is enough.

"Ah!" Hyuuga suddenly blurts out and claps his hands. "Introductions!"

"Right, right!" Tsucchi jumps in as he stands, towering like a traffic light over the table. "Kengo-kun, this is Yabuki Hayato, former lead of Kurogin's 3D and current English teacher," Tsucchi says as he gestures towards Hayato with one hand flourish. Hayato smirks at the mention of 3D and rolls his eyes at his friend's introduction. "Hayato, this is Morishige Kengo, he's-"

"Ryu's boyfriend," Kengo states.

"-a lawyer, just graduated from law school!" Tsucchi finishes simultaneously, his glass raised midway to congratulate Kengo.

Of all the scenarios Ryu had come up with in his head along the years on how his coming out to Hayato may happen, this was certainly not one of them.

He is motionless. His heart beating furiously inside his chest.

_What the fuck._

Ryu is staring disbelievingly at Kengo, who has a tiny smile on his face and is ignoring Ryu’s pointed eyes, probably staring at Hayato.

As Ryu’s breathing resumes, his mind starts to think on overdrive.

He knows he shouldn't be mad at Kengo for blurting it out like that. It was bound to come up during the night—as Hayato would have probably started to wonder what the new guy was doing there at some point. Plus, Ryu was not shy when he introduced Kengo to the other three the first time, so it's not like he's a deeply closeted gay man or anything.

Still, he _knows_ he shouldn't be mad—but he also kinda wants to smash his boyfriend's face in for some reason.

Ryu doesn't know if the silence around the table extends for as long as he thinks it does, or if everything's in his imagination and nobody's internally freaking out like he's doing at the moment. He wishes it’s the second option.

He desperately wants to unfreeze, turn around and gauge Hayato's reaction, but he's also scared of what he'll find if he does.

Luckily, he doesn’t have to.

"Congratulations," Hayato drily says and startles Ryu out of his budding mental breakdown. Ryu's head spins immediately to his other side to face him.

Hayato's face is... blank. And he's looking back at Kengo.

"About graduating, I mean," he clarifies for some reason, and takes a sip of Hyuuga's beer. His gaze shifts to the glasses and plates on the table, not even grazing Ryu in its movement. He pointedly ignores Ryu's long stare and keeps on drinking and drinking until Hyuuga's glass is completely empty. Ryu represses the need to bite his lower lip and turns to focus on the table too. Good uncomplicated and non-dramatic table with no possibly freaking out ex best-friends and current jabbering boyfriends.

"Right! We have to toast to that! That's why we're here today!" Take chirps and grabs his glass enthusiastically.

"Mou~ I don't have any beer left! Hayato drank it all!" Hyuuga complains while he stares mournfully, eyebrows furrowed in misery, at his now empty glass.

Tsucchi lets out a hearty laugh and pats him on the back while he raises his hand to call the waitress. When she reaches the table a few seconds after, Ryu can’t help but notice the long appraising glance she throws Hayato's way before she starts taking their orders.

It's an old reflex. Old habits die hard and all that shit. Ryu rolls his eyes at himself

A movement to his right catches his eye and he takes the waitress taking orders as an opportunity to turn to Kengo unnoticed. "What the fuck was that?" Ryu whispers angrily to his boyfriend as he averts his gaze from his ordering group of friends. He is still trying to decide how he feels about the situation. For now, he's come to the conclusion he's pissed off.

"What was what?" Kengo replies with a confused frown. Not quite whispering like Ryu, but not using his normal voice volume either.

"You. Blurting _that_ out just like that. What- why did you do that?" Ryu presses on, lowering his voice even more so Kengo _takes the fucking hint_.

"What's wrong with me blurting it out?" Kengo asks softly as he rests one of his hands on Ryu's right thigh. Ryu stares at Kengo's long fingers as they curl around his leg. When he looks up again Kengo's brows are furrowed in worry. "It's never bothered you before," he trails off with a shrug.

Ryu stiffens. He doesn't know if at the words or at the warm hand on his leg tightening its grip, apparently not leaving any time soon.

"It doesn't bother me! It's just- it's different. This time," he tries to explain but he's at a loss of words.

He cannot put in a few quick words just how _different_ coming out to Hayato is from coming out to anybody else—maybe with the exception of his parents and people at work.

Ryu mentally snorts at himself and shakes his head slowly, averting his eyes from his boyfriend’s searching stare.

Actually, he would be able to explain it if he wanted to. But he doesn't. Because if he started explaining this- this _thing_ he has with Hayato, he would have to explain why his heart is still pounding inside his chest or why he was trying to catch Hayato's eyes desperately two minutes ago to assess the possible damage or why it's making him utterly uncomfortable to have his boyfriend's hand sitting warmly on his thigh where-

"He's my colleague. At school," Ryu explains at last}, eyes still downcast. He's such a coward his past self would be snorting derisively at him right now. "He works at Akadou with me. So, I don't want things to get weird or for him to, you know, blurt it out accidentally or- or anything like that." It's stupid and rushed and Ryu wishes he could stop sounding as if he's excusing himself.

"Oh," is all Kengo replies to that. He lowers his gaze for a moment as if considering something. Then he raises his head again, and now his frown is not confused anymore. And his voice is not so low either. "You didn't tell me he _worked_ with you."

"Uh," Ryu replies eloquently. To say he's baffled would be an understatement.

Just then the waitress—thankfully—comes back with their orders and a very warm smile for Hayato only, apparently, and Ryu sighs thinks they _may_ be changing topics after she leaves and-

"Oh, yeah, Hayato's an English teacher at Akadou, he's been working there for some time already, right?" Take butts in their until then dead conversation with an innocent and encouraging smile.

Great. Just. _Great_.

How he managed to hear only that part of the conversation is just- _fuck_.

He doesn't get why he feels so caught red-handed. It's not like he tells Kengo _everything_. _Everyone_ knows he’s not the most talkative fish in the pond. But he can't deny, either, that he could've mentioned Hayato joining Akadou back then or even Hayato in general terms at any point during the last few months—only he didn't. He _incidentally_ didn't.

"Yep, it's been, what? Three months, Odagiri?" Hayato asks him and when Ryu turns in his seat and looks back at the other, he notices Hayato's eyes shifting lower, where Ryu can feel the warmth of Kengo's hand. Then his eyes go back up and meet Ryu's steadily while he takes a long gulp of his new beer glass this time.

Ryu tries not to squirm, but the flush rapidly working its way from his chest up to his face is not something he can control.

"Ye-" he clears his suddenly dry throat and goes on, "yes, I think it's been three months, more or less."

Then he feels the need to turn to Kengo and flash him an apologetic smile, but Kengo's not looking at him, he's staring steadily at Hayato.

"So you went from high-school bully to high-school teacher, huh? Isn't that ironic?" Kengo asks Hayato. And Ryu guesses the comment could've been playful, but Kengo's tone sounds anything but.

 _Bully?_ Hayato utters warily with a raised eyebrow just as Hyuuga interjects, "Ah! Right! We haven't told him."

And Hayato stops glaring at Kengo to glance around a little sullenly at his friends.

It’s clear Hayato still doesn't like feeling left out.

 _Or being called a bully,_ Ryu's brain helpfully supplies. _That too_.

"Kengo-kun went to Kurogin as well," Hyuuga explains and cracks a tiny smirk in Kengo's direction. "Only he was way smarter than us."

"Yeah, he was in 3A," Take adds as he rests his chin on his right hand, his elbow propped on the table. "He says we met, but I can't remember," Take adds, to what Hyuuga and Tsucchi mutter _me neither_ in unison.

"Figures," Hayato scoffs under his breath. And Ryu throws him a glance.

"Yeah, we met in our second year, actually," Kengo says with a nod. "You tried to take my lunch money, but _Ryu_ persuaded you not to," he adds at the same time he stares lovingly at Ryu and breaks into a smile, cute little dimples and everything. Ryu can feel fingers clutching the hand he had resting on his knee now and Hayato's eyes flicker to his knee and quickly go back up. Another big gulp of beer.

So _that's_ the way things are.

"I was probably trying to keep them out of trouble," Ryu mumbles and shrugs noncommittally.

They've already talked about this. Ryu doesn't like how Kengo makes him sound like a hero. He doesn't actually remember the whole situation, but he's pretty certain he was just trying to avoid his friends getting detention, not _saving_ a 2A nerd.

"Well, still, you saved me back then," Kengo insists. He's all shiny eyes and warm smiles.

"You make it sound like we were monsters," Hyuuga whines from the other side of the table with a childish pout his adult face has already outgrown.

"Yeah, it was just teenage fun," Hayato mutters and rolls his eyes, even if he too doesn’t remember Kengo, apparently. Ryu wants to nod in agreement. Instead he takes a sip of his own beer, which is going flat by now.

"You never think about the effect your own actions have on others, do you?" Kengo coolly comments and Ryu chokes on his beer.

 _How aptly perceptive_ , Ryu bitterly thinks.

"Hayato _never_ thinks. Period," Take jokingly cuts in and thankfully takes Hayato's attention away from Kengo and his very _insightful_ comments.

"Oi! Midget! Take that back!" Hayato indignantly says and throws a balled-up paper napkin at Take, who dodges it and flashes him a cocksure smile. Hyuuga lets out a hearty laugh as Tsucchi chuckles while shaking his head.

Ryu stares bewildered at the whole situation, his brain a muddy mess and his nerves still on end.

This is not how he’d been expecting the night to play out when he invited Kengo along two days before.

"I'm- I need to go to the toilet. Will you be okay here on your own?" Ryu asks as he turns to Kengo. Though what he really wants to ask is _will you manage to shut up and not cause any fight while I'm away peeing?_.

"Sure, don't worry about me," his boyfriend says and gives him a sweet smile as well as a reassuring squeeze to his knee.

Ryu returns the smile a little unconvinced and stands up as he excuses himself and leaves for the restroom.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

He's about to finish and come back to the table when Hayato walks through the door on unsteady feet.

"Yo," the other man greets him and stops. Then he seems to ponder which urinal to use. He finally decides to use the one closest to the door. Two urinals away from his.

 _As far away as possible from the faggot_ , Ryu thinks and snorts.

"Now that I think 'bout it, though, everything makes sense, ya know?" Hayato suddenly says with a wondering voice, very casual—as if they’d been in the middle of a conversation and he hadn’t just entered the restroom while Ryu was in the middle of shaking the pee off his dick. When he doesn’t receive any reply, Hayato proceeds to lower his zipper and lay a hand on the tiled wall to help support his weight while peeing.

Ryu sends a cautious glance towards Hayato’s side, expecting more words to come but, faced with silence—apart from the sound of Hayato peeing—, he shrugs and strides towards the sinks in four fast steps.

As soon as he gets there, though, Hayato decides to continue his by now apparent monologue unperturbed. "It makes sense why Ryu was never interested in girls during all those goukons in high school, why he was so cold towards them."

Ryu takes a deep breath and seriously considers going out without washing his hands. Then he grimaces at the thought only. He lathers his hands up with the cheap soap as fast as possible and places both his hands under the automatic tap.

"I don't know how I didn't notice before," Hayato adds with a chuckle and Ryu speeds up the hand washing unconsciously. "You were my best friend after all. I mean, it was prett-"

The wet sound of both of Ryu’s hands slamming on either side of the sink echoes all around.

"Will you _shut up_ already?" He interrupts Hayato harshly, his voice low and tone hard. Hayato flinches and complies immediately.

Ryu quickly heads for the hand dryer, as efficient as ever, as Hayato silently zips up and moves to the sinks.

The silence lasts only until the dryer stops.

"Congratulations, though," Hayato abruptly says in a conciliatory tone while he's clumsily washing the soap off his own hands. Ryu doesn't turn around. "On the boyfriend, I mean." He seems a little more alert— _sober_ , Ryu's mind supplies—than five minutes before. "I just- I didn't know," he finishes, still staring with unseeing eyes at the soap bubbles scurrying down his hands.

Ryu stares at Hayato’s slouching profile and sighs. "There are lots of things you don't know about me, Hayato," he mutters as he walks to the door and leaves Hayato and his drunk thoughts behind.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

"Come on, Ryuuu," Hayato insists and Ryu wants to punch him in the face so bad he has to forcefully stick his right fist into his right pant pocket to prevent himself from doing so.

"I said I'm not going, stop pushing," Ryu mutters firmly and keeps on walking, not even looking back at his pleading friend.

Hayato is still following him with a puppy face and a pout. He's dragging his feet like the little kid he secretly is deep inside.

 _Well, maybe not so deep_ , Ryu thinks and tsks.

"Come onnnnnnn, I swear you'll have fun! It's a double date after all. Why won't you do this for me?" Hayato whines some more and grabs Ryu’s elbow, yanking him back and halting his step.

Ryu finally stops walking and violently shakes Hayato’s hand off before quickly turning around to face his best friend, frustrated and annoyed because the other just won’t _get_ it.

"God, Hayato. Can't you- can't you just ask Tsucchi, or Hyuuga, or Take, or fucking anyone else except me?" Ryu exasperatedly asks the other and huffs.

Hayato pouts a bit more and stares down, at the dirt and soil or his silver clad feet, Ryu doesn’t know.

"Tsucchi is dating that girl from the arcade, Take is still grounded because of the fight last week and Hyuuga said he doesn't have the money to invite anyone and you well know I can't pay for _all four_ ," he explains as he counts off the reasons why their other friends are unavailable with the fingers on his right hand. When he’s done, he places palm against palm and looks up again with his face all scrunched up in pleading. " _Please_ , you know I wouldn't ask you if I didn't need to."

And Ryu knows that’s the case. But he also knows his masochistic side is not so strong so as to be able to endure a first-row seat for a whole afternoon of Hayato making out with a girl next to him while he simultaneously tries to entertain another girl and pretend the whole situation leaves him unaffected.

"I'm sorry," Ryu mutters and averts his gaze to avoid Hayato’s pleading face and puppy eyes. "But it's still a no."

Ryu hears Hayato growl low and closes his eyes in exasperation. "Why are you like this, Ryu?!" Hayato suddenly explodes in resentment, and Ryu sees his friend’s arms going up in the air and flailing dramatically from the corner of his eye. "Why do you come with us to goukons all the time but when I ask you to come to a double date with me only this _once_ you won't come?"

Ryu shakes his head and sighs.

 _Goukons_ are okay. In goukons there are other guys Ryu can talk to and other guys the _girls_ can talk to and Ryu doesn't have to pretend to be straight any harder than he does during his everyday life. In goukons there are so many people involved girls feel a little self-conscious and won't respond to Hayato's bold advances—and if they do, Ryu can look to the other side and distract himself with other people or escape to the restroom if it really gets to him, but he’s not tied to any girl expecting him to lovingly smooch her face too.

Double dates are definitely harder.

He turns with what he hopes is a disinterested look on his face and looks Hayato in the eye again.

"Are you afraid both girls will like me more?" Hayato asks after some pondering and tilts his face to stare patronizingly at Ryu. "Don't worry, I won't take both even if that happens, we're friends, ne~" he says and flashes his trademark jiggly peace sign to Ryu.

Ryu just snorts incredulously and kicks at the floor angrily.

_Fucking unbelievable._

"You're so damn full of yourself, Yabuki, but you're so stupid you can't even see what's right in front of you," Ryu snarls furiously but carefully to his friend’s face, and Hayato’s eyes widen in disbelief.

"What the fuck, Ryu?!" Hayato growls in response to Ryu's harsh words and pushes at Ryu's chest with both hands.

Ryu surges forwards and grabs the lapels of Hayato's black jacket with such force he feels the buttons of the uniform digging little circles in the palm of his hand.

"You don't understand a fucking thing. And you never will," Ryu bitterly spits out right in Hayato’s face while he pins his best friend with an angry glare. "I said I'm _not_ going. And that's it."

When Ryu roughly lets go of his jacket, Hayato staggers a little back and then regains balance as Ryu’s angry form walks away. He stands there for a while, staring dumbfounded at Ryu's retreating back.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Hayato comes back from the restroom shaking off water droplets from his hands just as Hyuuga is relating one of their high-school shenanigans to Kengo.

"And then Hayato pounced on the guy that was head-locking Ryu and he basically got him _asking_ for mercy," Hyuuga finishes as he lets out a hearty laugh. "His _whole_ gang ended up bowing to us afterwards."

"Aaah, the good old times, huh?" Hayato smirks as he sits down on his chair again without sparing even a glance in Ryu's direction.

"Yeah, we were just telling Kengo about that one time when you got that smelly gang leader to _beg_ for mercy," Tsucchi explains, making the toothpick sitting in the corner of his mouth dance with his lips’ movement.

Hayato takes a big gulp from his beer and nods in acknowledgement.

"Hm, I remember, I remember." He distractedly licks off the beer foam that had gathered above his upper lip. Ryu clears his throat and averts his gaze. "He was this big—and I mean _big_ guy and smelled awful—like beef ramen and sweat, man. But I got him from behind and I swear he fucking _wailed_ ," he cackles and the rest echo him.

"Don't you think it was a little cowardly, though, to get him from behind?"

Kengo's question has everyone in the table shut up and look at him in puzzlement. Not Hayato, though. Ryu feels his face getting hotter. He literally has to stop himself from groaning and running back to the restroom to cowardly hide there for the rest of the night.

Ryu understands Kengo's situation. _Really_. But he's frankly getting a little annoyed at just how antagonistic he's being today.

Hayato's laughter dies down as he turns to scowl at Kengo.

"He had _Odagiri_ on a _head-lock,"_ Hayato explains, exasperated. "What did you want me to do? Ask him _politely_ to _please_ let Odagiri go and _please_ turn around so I could kick his ass properly?" Hayato mockingly asks and scoffs in disdain. There's a defiant curl to his mouth Ryu hasn't seen in a while and he’s not particularly fond of seeing right here, right now and with so much alcohol in everybody’s blood.

Tsucchi snorts at Hayato's last comment but doesn't add anything to it. Hyuuga is staring intently at the beer glass he's holding with both his hands, decidedly not looking at either Kengo or Hayato. Ryu can physically _feel_ the tension at the table rising.

"Yeah, there was nothing else he could do," Take helpfully adds with a tiny smile in Kengo's direction. Ryu appreciates him trying, even if it’s useless at this point.

"Well, I just think it's nothing to be proud of," Kengo says and Ryu turns to look at him with raised eyebrows.

He just wants— _needs_ —Kengo to fucking shut up already. _Please_.

"And, besides, this was high-school," Kengo adds with a nonchalant shrug.

"Yeah, what's the problem with that?" Tsucchi sneers and raises his left eyebrow at Kengo. Ryu catches Hayato's little smirk out of the corner of his eye and feels the palms of his hands getting clammy with dread.

"Isn't it a bit _pathetic_ to be wallowing—as adults—in the fights you won during high-school?"

If the table had fallen silent before, now it is completely dead. Ryu swears he can feel Hayato's anger rising by the second beside him. He can sense the irritation even through Hayato’s apparently disinterested slouch in his jiggling leg and probably fisted hands inside his pants’ front pockets.

He wants to say something— _anything_. Just fucking anything will do. He wants to back Kengo up, because he feels it’s his duty as Kengo’s boyfriend or something and he also kinda agrees with him.

But there’s also a very old and very warm feeling spreading all over him like a well-worn fluffy blanket. An old feeling of protectiveness he used to get all the time as a kid and he had forgotten until very recently—the same one he was overcome with when he caught those assholes talking shit about Hayato in the teacher's lounge. The same one he was overcome with when he thought Hayato could get fired for protecting one of his students and got Ryu tattling on him to Sawatari.

It's an old feeling, but Ryu's getting used to it again pretty fast.

"I guess we just had lots of fun during high-school. Sorry you can't relate," Hayato replies condescendingly with a dismissive shrug and a scornful smile in Kengo's direction. That has Tsucchi fucking _chortling_ like a kid.

"It _was_ fun, ne~" Hyuuga adds with a short giggle as he looks up to the ceiling with a dreamy expression. Take nods enthusiastically beside him while making agreeing sounds.

And Ryu can’t even blame them.

"Neee~" Tsucchi also agrees with a half-smile and a nod when he stops laughing, but then he throws a short dangerous glance in Kengo's direction that has even Ryu uncomfortably squirming a little bit in his seat.

Kengo— _thankfully_ , Ryu thinks—shuts up after that. He just looks in Ryu's direction reproachfully from time to time during the rest of the night. As if Ryu could've done or said anything to help him when Kengo chose _that specific night_ to make the sharpest comments he's ever made in front of his friends.

Ryu feels bad for Kengo, really, because he was outnumbered and he wasn’t completely off.

But he's also feeling a little guilty because he too thinks the other one got it coming.

Kengo doesn't stay at Ryu's that night as they had agreed earlier that day. Ryu doesn't insist.

He never brings Kengo again to a night out with the gang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point this fic should be renamed "the fic where all high-tension scenes between the main characters happen inside a restroom", amirite? I'm sorry, I just love restrooms and bathrooms in general (???)  
> Also, what do you think about the boyfriend? I realize he might've come off as a little annoying but he's not a bad guy, he's just... jealous?


End file.
